Soul Phoenix
by Teddylonglong
Summary: Albus Dumbledore had thought through everything well. However, it was just two small details that he had missed in his planning - with far reaching consequences not only for Harry's Hogwarts years but also for the magical world as a whole. Completely AU, partly OOC, rating due to multiple character deaths throughout this story. Several unusual pairings. AU!
1. Chapter 1

**Soul Phoenix**  
 **by Healer Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. Rating M for multiple character deaths throughout this story.**

 _It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.  
_ _Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse._

* * *

Albus Dumbledore had thought through everything well. However, it was just two small details that he had missed in his planning. It was the night of the full moon, which Baby Harry had to spend on his relatives' doorstep, and the blood wards that he had cast around the Dursleys' home were not charmed to keep away animals of any kind.

Fifteen-month-old Harry Potter was fast asleep in the icy early November night, when all of a sudden, a shadow hurried up the street.

HP

It was not by chance that Fenrir Greyback made his way to Little Whinging that night. Upon hearing the news of the Potters' death and the Dark Lord's demise, he had waited at the Apparition border of Hogwarts and from his hiding spot had cast tracking charms at all Hogwarts professors who had readied themselves to apparate away during the day. _'Tomorrow is the full moon – maybe I can get to the Potter brat and avenge the Dark Lord'_ was his idea. Oh well, to tell the truth, it had not as much been his own idea as that of Lucius Malfoy, who had even been generous enough to provide a dose of the extremely rare but helpful Wolfsbane potion for him. The potion would help him keep his mind and ensure that he was mentally capable of fulfilling his task in spite of being in his werewolf form.

To Fenrir's chagrin, he had not spotted the baby, however, knowing that he had to act before the moon was going to rise fairly early this late in the year, he had followed McGonagall's track and had observed her watch a muggle house in her cat form during most of the afternoon. _'Maybe something's going to happen here,'_ he had thought and spent the afternoon and early evening roaming a near playground and forest. Now, however, it was time for revenge, provided that he had not been mistaken about the headmaster's plans.

Running up the street, he slowed down to eye the house that McGonagall had been watching earlier, only to smirk, happily. There he was. A baby was lying right on the doorstep, only wrapped into a thin blanket that was nothing compared to his sharp teeth.

He did not even give the boy a close look but merely fulfilled his task, knowing that Malfoy and the Dark Lord – if he was ever going to come back like Malfoy had promised – would reward him greatly for making the boy who lived a werewolf who had yet to transform.

HP

Harry only felt a sharp pain in his left arm on time to see a huge animal run away from him. He instinctively began to scream for his mummy. However, no one heard him, and after the pain lessened some, he drifted back to sleep, exhausted from crying.

HP

The Dursleys grudgingly took Baby Harry in and allowed him to stay in the cupboard under the stairs, not bothering to examine the wound on the baby's arm.

After exactly a month, Baby Harry felt pain spread over his whole body, before all of a sudden, his tiny hands became bigger and finally were replaced by a paw. He remained an animal until his body changed back when the first rays of the early morning sun penetrated his cupboard. Even back in his human form, Harry still felt uncomfortable and in pain, and he whimpered for a long time, before he drifted back into a much needed healing sleep.

Once a month, during the full moon, little Harry transformed into a little wolf, however, since no one looked into the cupboard at night, no one noticed about his transformation. They did not even realise how tired he was during the day after the full moon, and his whimpering due to the pain from the transformation was simply ignored.

At first, Harry thought that his transformation into an animal, maybe some kind of dog or wolf, was a recurring dream. Only when he was about four years old, he realised that he indeed did transform. _'Oh no, I better don't tell anyone about it,'_ he thought, having already learned that he was a freak and would be harshly punished for doing freaky things.

The Dursleys used to send him to bed before dinner, so that even in the winter months, he was always back in his cupboard before moonrise.

However, while Petunia had made Harry clean the house from his third birthday onwards, when he turned five, his aunt decided that he had to do the cooking as well. During the summer months, it was not a problem, however, in the evening of the full moon in November, Harry really had to hurry to finish dinner before it would become dark. By now, he had gotten used to the signs and his worsening condition and knew when it was time for him to become a wolf again.

Unfortunately, the next full moon was on the evening before Christmas Eve, and Harry was still in the kitchen preparing meals for his relatives for Christmas, when he felt the moon rise. Letting out a horrified shriek, he still tried to just drop everything and hurry back into his cupboard, but the transformation was stronger than the five-year-old's will, and an instant later, a young wolf was roaming the kitchen.

 _'_ _Meat'_ was his instinctive thought, as he buried his teeth into Dudley's leg, only to turn away from the boy and defend himself against Vernon Dursley, who tried to restrain him, however, could not do anything against the five-year-old werewolf.

Crashing through the back door, the werewolf stormed out into the garden and from there ran straight through Privet Drive into the nearby park. Following his instinct that told him to get away as far as possible, even if his werewolf mind was unable to comprehend the reason, he ran straight on for a couple of hours, before he collapsed from exhaustion under a small group of trees in a park in London.

HP

Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office, patiently waiting for the deputy headmistress to return from taking the students to Hogsmeade, where they would catch the Hogwarts Express to travel home for the Christmas holidays, when his fireplace flared.

"Andromeda," he greeted the witch in surprise and with a flick of his hand allowed her to step through.

"Dumbledore, I just saw something disturbing on the television," she came straight to the point, refusing the offered lemon drop with a wave of her hand. "They've found a boy and don't know where he belongs, and if you ask me, he awfully looks like Harry Potter. He's battered and bruised, but his scar is clearly visible, and he has Lily's green eyes."

She handed him a parchment containing the address of a muggle hospital. "Will you please check this out? I would do it myself, but I still need to work today."

Albus nodded in understanding. "I will," he promised. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, even if I don't really believe that it could be Harry."

"Thank you, headmaster," Andromeda replied and hurriedly stepped back into the fireplace.

HP

Harry was lying in a hospital bed trying to recall what had happened. _'Oh my, I attacked Dudley and Uncle Vernon,'_ he finally remembered, _'and then I destroyed the back door and fled. Then someone picked me up and brought me here,'_ he vaguely remembered the occurrences of the early morning.

All of a sudden, there was a bright flash, and before Harry knew what happened, the oldest man that he had ever seen was standing next to his bed with a beautiful, large bird perched on his shoulder.

"Hello," Harry said, timidly, looking at the bird in awe. It had red and golden feathers and was just very pretty. The old man was wearing a strange, purple one-piece and had a long beard. _'He almost looks like Father Christmas is supposed to look according to Dudley,'_ Harry thought, however, knew that Father Christmas was never going to come to a freak like him.

"Hello Harry," the old man said in a soft voice, causing Harry to wonder why he knew his name. "I am Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, and this is my phoenix Fawkes," he introduced himself and his familiar.

"Fawkes is beautiful," Harry whispered in amazement, carefully holding out a hand, when the phoenix suddenly jumped onto his stomach.

"It's all right to pet him," the old man reassured him, and the phoenix slightly lowered his head, almost as to show him that he wanted him to pet his crown feathers.

Harry carefully did the bird the favour, looking up in surprise when the phoenix uttered a few trills.

#Thanks little nestling. I appreciate it.#

"You're welcome," Harry replied, smiling.

"Could you understand what he said?" the old man queried, sounding surprised.

"Yes sir," Harry replied in a soft voice.

"Very well now, I believe that it's time for us to leave here," the old man said. "I'm going to take you with me to Hogwarts for the time being. We'll talk about everything in my office."

"All right," Harry agreed, unsurely, as he had no clue what Hogwarts exactly meant, however, obediently grabbed Fawkes' back feathers like the old man instructed him before he did the same.

He suddenly felt squeezed, and the world around him spun around before it turned black. When his vision returned, he found himself in the most beautiful room that he had ever seen.

HP

Only when the old man spoke up again, Harry noticed that there was a woman sitting in an arm chair reading an old looking book.

"Minerva, this is Harry. For some reason, he was found far from his relatives' home, wounded," the old man said. "Harry, this is my colleague, Professor McGonagall."

"Hello Professor McGonagall," Harry said, shyly.

"Hello Harry," the professor replied in a soft voice. "I'm very happy to meet you. I was a good friend of your parents, and I knew you well, when you were a baby."

"My parents?" Harry asked in excitement.

"Yes, they were both my students and later good friends," McGonagall informed him, only to add, "I sometimes baby-sat you when you were very small, although I doubt that you'll remember that."

"No," Harry replied, sadly, shaking his head. "I don't remember my parents either."

"Harry, have your relatives told you about Hogwarts?" the professor enquired.

Harry shook his head in denial. "No."

McGonagall sighed. "All right Harry. We're here in the headmaster's office at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Professor Dumbledore, who brought you here, is the headmaster."

"Witchcraft and wizardry?" Harry repeated in disbelief. "What…" He trailed off, seeing McGonagall smile upon his discontinued question.

"This is a school, where children learn to control their magic and cast different kind of spells," the professor replied. "Did your relatives not even tell you that you're a wizard?" she then asked, incredulously.

"No," Harry replied in surprise. "They only told me that I'm a freak. Are you sure though? I mean, I'm just Harry, an ungrateful freak and a burden to all the good people," he added in a small voice what Uncle Vernon had drummed into his head over the last four years.

"Harry," the headmaster spoke up after leaving the conversation to his deputy for a while. "You're a wizard, however, what I'd like to know most is what happened. Why did you run away from your family?"

Harry let out a long sigh. "Excuse me sir, is it part of being a wizard to change into a large animal every now and then?" he asked, hesitantly.

"Are you an Animagus?" McGonagall enquired, her eyes widening, while the headmaster merely cast him a thoughtful look.

"Well, anyway, usually, I was already back in my cupboard when it happened, but yesterday, I had to cook for the Dursleys' Christmas, and I changed into the animal. My uncle was very angry, and I just fled. But I don't want to return there if possible," he added to his explanation in a small voice.

"Harry," Dumbledore said, pensively, "can you show us the animal?"

Harry cast him a surprised look, before he shook his head. "No sir, it only happened last night. I don't know when it'll happen again, but maybe in a few weeks' time."

"Do I understand it correctly that the change into the animal just occurs from time to time and it's not by your free will?" Dumbledore asked, his voice laced with concern.

"You mean that he's a werewolf?" McGonagall blurted out, seemingly horrified.

"Yes sir," Harry admitted, averting his eyes to the floor. _'Apparently, I really am a freak,'_ he thought, sadly.

"Harry, don't worry. I'll call two of my colleagues and ask them to check if there's anything that they can help you with," Dumbledore said in a soothing voice, before he leaned into the fireplace and called Poppy Pomfrey and Severus Snape.

Harry observed in shock how an older witch, followed by a tall wizard, stepped out of the fireplace.

"These are Healer Pomfrey and Professor Snape, who is our Potions Master and also has the first degree in Healing," Dumbledore introduced the two adults. "Poppy, Severus, will you please check on Harry and confirm if he is suffering from lycanthropy?"

Harry noticed that both adults cast the headmaster horrified looks, before they pulled wands out of their robe pockets and began to cast spells at him.

"Harry is indeed a werewolf," Poppy informed the headmaster, giving him a sympathetic look.

The Potions Master, who had been wearing a grumpy expression in the first place, merely nodded.

"Harry, in order to become a werewolf, you must have been bitten by one. Do you remember where and when that was?" Dumbledore enquired, looking at him in clear expectation. "Have you ever been outside the house during the night?"

"No sir," Harry replied in a small voice. "I think I was always a wolf."

"No," Snape disagreed, sharply. "When your parents were still alive, you weren't."

Silence spread over the room for a couple of minutes, before the Potions Master spoke again. "Oh no, Albus I can tell you what happened. Did you by chance take care of the matter that the night you placed him on his relatives' doorstep was the night of the full moon? He probably was bitten during that night."

"Was that the full moon?" Dumbledore asked, seemingly horrified.

"Yes," the professor whose expression had softened some replied in a grave voice.

"Very well," Dumbledore decided, sighing, "we can't make him go back to his relatives'. We must keep him here at Hogwarts."

"Albus," McGonagall spoke up in a soft voice. "Could we perhaps ask Remus Lupin to take care of him and home school him here in the castle? If anyone will be able to help a child werewolf, it'll be him."

"I believe that's a good idea," Snape was the first to react, causing his colleagues to stare at him in surprise.

"What?" the Potions Master asked, only to add, "I promised Lily to keep her son safe, as far as I can. True, I wasn't fond of the Marauders, but Lupin is harmless in comparison to each of his friends, and if he promises that he and Harry are going to take the Wolfsbane every month, it should be safe for everyone in the castle."

"Will you be willing to brew the Wolfsbane for them, my boy?" the headmaster asked, pleadingly. "Maybe if you teach Harry, he'll be able to assist."

A sneer appeared on the professor's face, however, he replied, "If Harry is only half as adept at Potions as Lily was, he'll be able to assist, provided that he's willing."

"Of course sir," Harry replied, eagerly. "Please teach me, sir. Is brewing a bit similar to cooking?"

Dumbledore crossed the room in a fast pace considering his age, which had to be enormous, and shouted into the fireplace, "Remus Lupin."

"Remus, could you please step through to Hogwarts for a moment?" Harry heard him ask before stepping away from the fireplace.

Just a moment later, a very friendly looking man with brown hair and a smile on his lips entered the room. He looked a little tired, and his robes did not seem as well kept as those of the other adults.

"Harry?" he blurted out upon noticing him, causing Harry to smile, hesitantly.

"Hello, nice to meet you," he said in a small voice. "I'm Harry."

"Remus," Dumbledore spoke up, sounding grave. "We've just found out that Harry is suffering from lycanthropy."

"He what?" Remus almost shouted, seemingly horrified at the news. "I promise I didn't…"

"Shut up, Lupin," Snape interrupted the rambling that was sure to come. "We know that you wouldn't do such a thing. We merely called you here to ask you something."

Harry stared at the Potions Master in surprise at the tone he used.

"All right, Severus," Remus replied, slightly calmer, looking at the headmaster in clear expectation, as he lowered himself into the offered seat next to Harry.

"Remus, would you be willing to raise Harry here at Hogwarts and home school him?" Dumbledore enquired. "We believe that you'll be the best to help him."

"I'd be very happy to raise Harry and teach him here at Hogwarts," Remus agreed right away. "If you believe that it's safe."

"It has to be safe," Snape spoke again in a firm voice. "It's your responsibility that you both take the Wolfsbane at the right times and don't hurt anyone. I will provide the potion for the two of you, possibly with Harry's assistance."

"Thank you so much, Severus," Remus replied, seemingly grateful. "I promise that we'll take the potion and take all possible safety precautions."

"Thank you Severus and Remus," Dumbledore said, nodding contentedly. "I suggest that we head to the Great Hall for dinner, and afterwards, I'll show you to your new quarters. First thing tomorrow morning, I'll go to the Dursleys and transfer the guardianship from them to Remus."

"I never have to go back to them?" Harry asked, his voice laced with hope.

"No Harry, you'll remain here at Hogwarts now," Dumbledore reassured him. "I'm sorry for placing you with your relatives. I thought they'd love you like their own son."

Snape let out a snort, which he quickly hid behind a cough. _'He seems a bit grumpy, but from what he says he's nice,'_ Harry thought, looking forward to be able to assist the dark haired wizard.

HP

When Harry entered the Great Hall together with Remus, he stopped dead in his tracks, overwhelmed by the beauty of the largest room that he had ever seen. Looking up to view the ceiling, he noticed that the Hall did not have a roof. He could clearly see the snow from outside fall into the Great Hall, although it never reached the floor, and it was warm and comfortable inside.

"Is there no ceiling?" he whispered to Remus, pointing up to the roof in surprise.

"There is," Remus replied, smiling. "But one of the founders of Hogwarts charmed the ceiling to reflect the sky, with an amazing effect if you ask me."

"Yes, it's cool," Harry had to agree, before his thoughts became diverted by the enormous Christmas tree that decorated one corner of the Great Hall. _'Oh right, it's Christmas Eve tonight,'_ he recalled, feeling very happy to spend the evening at such a wonderful place instead of being locked into his cupboard.

HP

After dinner, Dumbledore led Harry and Remus to a door within the corridor where all the teachers' quarters were. "These will be your rooms," he said, pensively. "The rooms at your right side are currently vacant, but Severus is living to your left side." With that, the headmaster opened the door and entered what seemed to be a living room.

Harry stared around the room in awe. The living room was built around a large fireplace and surrounded by bookshelves, which were only interrupted by tall windows and two small corridors.

"Please make yourselves comfortable," Dumbledore told them. "I shall ask a house-elf to fetch your belongings for you." He remained pensive for a moment, before he called out, "Gina!"

Harry stared at the small creature that popped up in front of them in disbelief. _'What's that?'_ he wondered.

"This is Gina, the Potters' head house-elf," Dumbledore introduced the elf. "Gina, would you be willing to work for Harry and his new guardian, Remus, here?"

Gina bowed deeply. "Of course, Gina will be honoured to work for Master Harry and Master Remus. I'm very glad to hear that Master Remus is Master Harry's guardian now."

"Thank you, Gina," Remus replied, warmly, and Harry had the impression as if Remus and Gina already knew each other.

 _'_ _They both seem very nice,'_ he thought, happily, yawning.

"All right now, you should both go to bed, considering that it's the day after the full moon and you must be knackered," Dumbledore stated and left for the night, while Gina popped away to fetch Harry's and Remus' luggage.

HP

"Come Harry, let's get you into bed," Remus said in a soft voice and led him into one of the bedrooms. "Tomorrow, we'll ask Gina to change your room just like you want it, all right?"

Harry stared at his new guardian, wide-eyed. "This room is totally amazing," he blurted out.

"We'll see about it tomorrow. For tonight, just let's go to bed. Do you want me to transfigure your clothes into pyjamas?" Remus offered, not commenting on the matter that Gina had merely brought a worn out baby blanket from the Dursleys'.

"Yes please," Harry replied, eagerly, recalling how the headmaster had changed his hospital pyjamas into nice blue trousers with a red jumper earlier.

Remus waved his wand, and an instant later, Harry found himself dressed in most comfortable dark blue pyjamas that were decorated with a small, white ball which was moving around in a seemingly free will. From time to time, it vanished, only to pop up again at a different spot. _'This is funny,'_ he thought, giggling.

"Good night Harry," Remus said, gently, as he carefully tucked him in.

"Good night Remus," Harry replied, smiling as he drifted off to sleep, not having felt so cared for in a long time.

HP

Before everyone at Hogwarts was going to gather in the Great Hall for Christmas breakfast, Albus Dumbledore stepped into the fireplace to visit the Dursleys, wanting to have the change of the guardianship finished. ' _It'll probably be Harry's best Christmas present,'_ he thought, berating himself for having placed the boy with his relatives.

Muttering a short apology to Arabella Figg, who was not even present when he stepped out of her fireplace, he quickly made his way to number four Privet Drive, where he found Petunia and Dudley sitting in the half-destroyed kitchen, crying.

"What happened?" he asked with a combination of genuine concern and foreboding.

"That freak happened," Petunia sobbed. "The day before yesterday, he changed into a wolf and killed Vernon."

"After biting me," Dudley added, showing him a small wound in his leg.

"Harry seems to be a werewolf," Albus said, pensively, trying to not let his own horror show to the muggles. "Did you not notice that a werewolf bit him before?"

Seeing Dudley and his mother shake their heads, he decided, "I'll take all of you to Hogwarts for the time being," he decided. "If Harry bit him, Dudley will probably be a werewolf now as well, and it would be too dangerous for you to remain here. Please quickly pack your most valuable belongings," he added as an afterthought.

While Petunia and Dudley busied themselves packing, Albus quickly repaired the kitchen, before he unobtrusively modified their memories. They'd both believe that Vernon had died in an accident and that no one knew how Dudley had become a werewolf, just like in Harry's case. _'That's much better,'_ he thought, contentedly, and sent a Patronus to his deputy, before he sat at the kitchen table and conjured a cup of tea for himself.

HP

Professor McGonagall knocked at Remus' and Harry's door and informed them that their presence was required in the headmaster's office before breakfast, as Dumbledore was going to bring Harry's aunt and cousin to Hogwarts.

"Remus, I can stay with you, can't I?" Harry asked, worriedly.

"I think so, Harry," Remus replied, calmly, giving the deputy headmistress a concerned look.

"Albus didn't say anything about it," McGonagall answered the unasked question. "I can't see a reason why not though."

HP

By the time the headmaster returned to his office with Petunia and Dudley in tow, Minerva and Remus had efficiently prevented Harry from hyperventilating, and Dumbledore had gained some insight into Harry's life with his so-called family.

"Oh what a beautiful place," Petunia voiced, when they three of them arrived with Dumbledore's Portkey.

Dudley merely nodded, glancing around with apparent apprehension.

"Is this a nice place, yes?" Dumbledore enquired in obvious amusement. "Dudley, do you think so, too?"

Dudley nodded. "Yes. Where are we?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "You're in my office at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Only wizards and witches are able to see this as you said beautiful place though. Muggles will only see a pile of old bricks," he informed them, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

"Muggles?" Harry mouthed, giving Remus a questioning look.

"Muggles are non magical people, Harry," his guardian replied, gently.

"I am non magical, and so is Dudley," Petunia said in a firm voice.

Dumbledore smiled. "I'm sorry to say this, Mrs. Dursley, but that's impossible." He motioned Petunia and Dudley to take seats and offered them a lemon drop, which Dudley gladly accepted, before he explained about the Evans family.

"Most people thought that Lily was muggleborn. Alas, this is not true. The Evans family, which is, unfortunately as I might say, prevailed by a long line of Squibs, goes back as far as Ceridwen Hufflepuff and her husband Gawain, the sister of one of the founders of Hogwarts." Ignoring Petunia's gasp, he continued, "Therefore, all three of you are descendants of the Hufflepuff line. While Harry is definitely a wizard and after his mother listed as the heir of Hufflepuff, we'll have to ask our healer to assess if you're Squibs, non magical descendants from a magical line, or if either of you is magical."

"That would be too cool if Dudley was a wizard, too," Harry blurted out in excitement.

"Let me call our healer along with our Potions Master and have them assess the matter," Dumbledore suggested. "We also need them to confirm if Dudley is suffering from lycanthropy."

HP

"Petunia," Severus Snape acknowledged the supposed-to-be muggle's presence.

"Severus," Petunia replied in clear surprise.

"Poppy, Severus, it appears that Dudley is also a werewolf," Dumbledore turned to his colleagues. "I need you to check for lycanthropy, and I'd also like you to assess if by chance Mrs. Dursley or Dudley are magical."

Harry observed with interest how the healer and the professor took their wands and began to cast diagnostic spells at his aunt and cousin.

"Mrs. Dursley's magic is currently at about two percent," Pomfrey said, seemingly pensive. This probably means that she is a Squib, however, her magic might still go up as far as needed to be considered a witch. We'll have to keep this in mind and do the occasional check. Her son's magic is still very weak, however, he is definitely a wizard. Maybe it's just manifesting a little late," she added, smiling.

"I agree," Snape spoke up, giving the healer a sharp nod. "Mr. Dursley is also suffering from lycanthropy," he added, causing the healer to confirm her colleague's diagnosis.

"The question is what to do with him," Dumbledore said, seemingly thoughtful. "We can't very well have Mrs. Dursley and Dudley live in the muggle world with this predicament."

"Petunia could remain at Hogwarts with the boys," Snape suggested. "Maybe she could replace Madam Pince as the librarian. Irma wanted to retire anyway, and I don't think that much magic is needed for her tasks."

"That would be an option," Dumbledore said, seemingly deep in thoughts. "Dudley could attend classes with Remus Lupin together with Harry." Seeing Petunia give him a questioning look, he explained, "Remus Lupin was one of Harry's parents' best friends, and he's a werewolf as well. He'd be well able to help the boys with everything from the transformation up to the after effects. Last night, we've already decided to change the guardianship over Harry to Remus, as he could become his guardian in the muggle and the magical world."

"I'd appreciate that," Petunia said, seemingly grateful, "and I'd also like to accept the offered position. It means a lot to me that I'm allowed to remain together with my son."

"What about your nephew?" McGonagall asked in a sharp voice.

"Oh well, yes," Petunia replied, not seeming overly enthusiastic.

Seeing that Harry gave him a frightened look, Remus spoke up. "Harry, you're going to stay with me, aren't you?"

"Yes please," Harry agreed, smiling happily. _'No one has ever told me so much about my parents like Remus did before McGonagall disturbed us, and he really seems to like me. I'm so happy that I can stay with him,'_ he thought, feeling over the moon with joy at the new arrangements.

HP

"Now I suggest that I show Petunia and Dudley their rooms, which is right next to Remus' and Harry's, and then I suggest that we all assemble for breakfast in the Great Hall. If I'm not mistaken, today is Christmas day, and I believe that Father Christmas has brought presents for us," the headmaster said, pleasantly, before he complimented his guests out of his office.

"Father Christmas never brings me presents," Harry whispered to Remus, when they followed McGonagall straight into the Great Hall.

"And why might that be, Harry?" Remus enquired in apparent surprise, gently placing his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Because I'm a freak and not a good boy," Harry replied, matter-of-factly.

"You're a wizard and not a freak," Remus said in a soft yet firm voice. "And I'm sure that you're a very good boy."

A sudden thought struck Harry's mind. "Is it my fault that Dudley's a freak now too, ah, a wizard I mean?" he asked in a small voice, causing Remus to shake his head.

"No Harry. First of all, it's a very good thing, and secondly, it's not your fault at all," Remus reassured him and led him over to the head table, where the other teachers were already having breakfast.

HP

To his utter surprise, Harry received many presents, proper clothes, books and toys, even more than Dudley.

"How come that the freak gets presents?" Harry heard Dudley ask his mother. "You always said that he wasn't a good boy."

Harry averted his eyes to the floor, wondering how Petunia might reply in front of all these witches and wizards that were now gathered around them. _'I just hope that they won't find out that I'm not good and send me away,'_ he thought, when his aunt finally replied.


	2. Chapter 2

**Soul Phoenix**  
 **by Healer Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. Rating M for multiple character deaths throughout this story.**

 _It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.  
_ _Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind feedback on the previous chapter!_

* * *

"Dudley, I'm sorry to say this, but please forget everything that your father told you about Harry. He was not a good man," Petunia said in a small voice.

Harry looked at his aunt in surprise, noticing that here hands were slightly shaking. _'But she somehow stood up for me,'_ he thought, feeling strangely happy at the idea.

"I believe so, too," Dumbledore threw in, who was now dressed in red robes and was wearing a red hat, somehow looking like Santa Clause. "Harry is as good as you are. It's just that your father did not like wizards, probably because he was afraid of them, since they can do magic and he couldn't. Now that we know that you're both little wizards and very good boys, I hope that you will be able to get along very well and make me very proud of both of you."

"We will," Dudley replied, eagerly, causing Harry to gape at his cousin in surprise.

"We will, sir," he echoed, smiling at the old wizard.

 _'_ _Dudley feels different now, he feels like Remus, green, white and brown,'_ Harry thought, having no clue as to what it meant. _'Dudley's green is a bit lighter though.'_ He knew, however, that Dumbledore felt golden, while McGonagall's colour was green, white and yellow, and his aunt felt light pink. _'I wonder if I have a colour, too, and if so what it is,'_ he thought, while he stared at the pile of presents in front of him in amazement. _'Green could be magic,'_ he figured, _'as it's different from the other colours and just like a frame around them.'_

HP

In the evening, when Remus and Harry had returned to their quarters and were alone, Harry asked, hesitantly, "Remus, what do people's colours mean?"

Remus stared at the boy in apparent surprise. "People's colours?" he then asked, incredulously.

"Yes," Harry confirmed and explained, "for example, you feel green, white and brown, Aunt Poppy green and white, and Professor Snape green, white, yellow and black."

Remus remained quiet for a while, before he said, "Harry, I believe that what you're talking about must be people's auras. I've heard that there has been the occasional wizard or witch in the past who could sense people's auras, but they're extremely rare. If you don't mind, I'd like to speak with Professor Dumbledore about it. I don't know if he can sense auras, but he'll at least know more about it than I do."

"Won't he tell the others?" Harry asked, timidly. "I don't want to be a freak anymore. I just want to be a normal wizard like all the others."

Remus smiled in clear understanding. "I am sure that Professor Dumbledore will keep your secret," he replied in a soothing voice. "Even if he made a mistake placing you with your relatives in the first place, I trust him to have your best interests in mind."

HP

Not wanting to leave Harry alone in their quarters, even if Gina would be there for him, Remus called the headmaster into their rooms, as soon as Harry was asleep.

"Harry can see auras," Dumbledore repeated in clear surprise. "That's astounding to say the least, as neither of his parents or grandparents showed any kind of special ability. His mother was a Seer though. The only other person of whom I know that he's able to recognise people's auras is Ollivander. It's a very rare and valuable ability."

"Might he get any problems due to this ability, or is there any way that we could practise it, or should we try to suppress it? Professor, I'm sorry, but I don't have a clue what to do about this," Remus enquired, feeling very uncertain about the matter.

"Don't do anything," the headmaster advised him. "Just make it clear to him that he is supposed to tell you everything but not speak about things like this to others."

"Oh well, he told me that he doesn't want anyone but you and me to know, as he just wants to be an ordinary wizard," Remus admitted. "I couldn't bring it over myself to inform him that no werewolf would be anything like a normal wizard. Not after he was called a freak for more than four years."

"That's right, Remus, and I'm sure that you're well able to handle little Harry and raise him to a wonderful young man," Dumbledore reassured him, his eyes twinkling merrily, as he added, "I also hope that Severus will help you, not least by teaching Harry Potions."

"Thank you, headmaster," Remus said, feeling very grateful to the old wizard for allowing him back to having a real life, even with his own family. _'This is the best that could have happened to me,'_ he thought, although he could not help feeling sorry for Harry for being a werewolf, having experienced prejudices all his life.

HP

Harry soon realised in surprise that Dudley was much nicer at Hogwarts than he had been at their former home. _'Oh well, it's good that Uncle Vernon isn't here with them,'_ he thought, not having heard the truth about his uncle's fate yet. Petunia and Dudley were oblivious to what had really happened, and the teachers had decided to not inform Harry about it, deciding that it was not the boy's fault anyway.

With Gina's help, Remus had changed one of the unused classrooms, of which there were many in the large castle, to a primary school classroom, equipped with colourful study, reading and play areas. Both boys loved their own school room, and they realised soon that Remus was strict but a wonderful teacher.

Remus taught them Math, Reading and Writing and intended to teach the boys easy magic, only to realise that while Harry was able to cast wandless magic, they needed to get a children's wand for Dudley.

"Better get one for Harry, too," Dumbledore advised him at breakfast on Saturday morning. "It won't do good for people to know that Harry doesn't need a wand to cast spells."

Remus immediately agreed and, glancing around his colleagues, asked, "Would anyone like to accompany us to Hogsmeade?"

To everyone's surprise, Sybill Trelawney was the first to speak up. "I shall accompany you today."

McGonagall leaned forward in her seat in clear surprise. "Sybill, are you sure? Otherwise, I'll go," she suggested, seemingly incredulously.

"No, thank you, Minerva, but I'm certain," Trelawney replied, muttering something about her inner eye that Harry could not fully understand.

He looked at the professor in surprise. It was now almost a week since he had come to Hogwarts, and so far, he had never seen her except for dinner on Christmas day. _'I wonder what she's teaching,'_ he thought, finding that she looked somehow different from the other teachers. Her aura was green and white though, so he told himself to relax.

HP

Remus did not let his surprise show. Even if he had spent seven years at Hogwarts, with Sybill as his Ravenclaw classmate, he had never had the opportunity to exchange more than a simple "Good morning" with her.

 _'_ _I'd have rather thought Petunia would want to accompany us,'_ he thought, astonished to hear that Severus offered Petunia a tour around Hogwarts. _'Well, she didn't join us when I showed Harry and Dudley Hogwarts,'_ he realised, wondering just how much Severus seemed to have changed for the better since their own time as students. _'It's good that he looks after her,'_ he thought. _'The recent events must have been quite a shock for her, even if Albus partly obliviated her.'_

Remus led the children towards the village, making small talk with Sybill as they went. However, just an instant before reaching the Apparition point, he instructed the small group to stop for a moment.

"We're now reaching the end of the Hogwarts wards," he explained to the children. "Try if you can feel the magic of the wards."

"Oh wow," Harry blurted out after a moment. "That's powerful magic."

"What?" Dudley enquired. "I can't feel anything."

Harry took his cousin by the hand. "Look Dudley, concentrate on the magic that's running through your arm. And then you extend it and feel if there's more magic around you. Eventually, you'll feel it."

"That was a fantastic explanation," Sybill commended Harry, causing he five-year-old to smile.

Dudley seemed to be unable to feel the magic of the wards. _'Probably, his magic is still not developed enough,'_ Remus thought and led the children towards The Quadruple Circle, the only magical department in Britain, which was situated opposite of Flourish  & Blotts in the main street.

"This is not the right place for Harry," Sybill spoke up, sounding dreamy, when they entered The Quadruple Circle. "We need to visit Diagon Alley."

"And why might that be?" Remus asked in clear surprise.

"You won't find a wand for Harry here. Only Ollivander will have a proper wand for him," Trelawney explained, making Harry look at her with curiosity.

Since they wanted to buy a children's wand for Dudley in any case, Remus decided to also ask for one for Harry, only to realise that Sybill had been correct. Pocketing Dudley's new wand, Remus led the small group to the Three Broomsticks, from where they took the Floo to Diagon Alley.

Knowing that the children had not travelled through fireplaces before, Sybill stepped into the fireplace together with Harry, while Remus took Dudley's hand and led him into the fireplace.

Harry felt very grateful that the kind professor gently laid her arm around his shoulders before casting in the Floo powder and shouting their destination, as he still felt apprehensive to travel through fire, even if he had already witnessed it a couple of times in the headmaster's office. She even supported him, when they were thrown out of the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron, so that he could somehow keep himself upright.

Diagon Alley was just amazing. Fortunately, they were not in a hurry and the adults allowed Harry and Dudley to look at all the shops along the shopping street. To the adults' annoyance, they were especially interested in the broom shop.

"Come on, children, we need to go and buy Harry's wand. There are lots of school brooms at Hogwarts, and if you ask Aunt Rolanda nicely, she'll surely take you out flying one day," Remus told them.

"If you really like flying, you can still wish for a broom for your birthdays," Sybill added, causing Harry's expression to turn sad.

"Harry?" Remus enquired, giving his ward a concerned look.

"I don't get birthday presents," Harry explained in a small voice.

"Harry, think of Christmas," Dudley replied, pleasantly. "At Hogwarts, everything is different, and I love it."

"That's true," Harry agreed, smiling happily at his cousin.

HP

Ollivander's shop was a horror, at least in Harry's opinion. The man was very friendly, however, he gave Harry the impression as if he could look right through him, and he made Harry try at least five wands, but none of them worked for him.

One wand heated up so much that Harry almost burned his hand, the next crashed one of the large shelves, the third burst into a large flame, as soon as Harry did as much as touch it, and the next were not much better. Finally, Harry outright refused to try another wand, giving the old wizard a frightened look.

"I see," Ollivander said, pensively. "I believe that in spite of only being five years old, your magic is so strong that you need an adult's wand. Maybe even…" He trailed off, giving Harry an assessing look before fetching a wand from the back of the room.

Unbeknownst to the horrified look that the adults exchanged, Harry hesitantly reached for the wand that the wand maker handed him next, and his expression changed to a genuine smile. He knew immediately that it was the right wand for him. It just felt as if they belonged together.

"Try it out. Wave it," Ollivander encouraged him, and Harry quickly cast the Lumos spell that Remus had taught him the previous evening, and the tip of his wand became very bright.

"Fantastic," the wand maker commended him. "You're going to be a very powerful wizard," he added, causing Harry to give Remus a questioning look.

However, his guardian nodded, reassuringly, and Harry had the impression as if he could see pride in the werewolf's expression.

"This wand is extremely rare," Ollivander informed Harry. "It has the core of the feather from a soul phoenix, which is a very rare species, and this specific phoenix only gave one single feather many years ago. Ever since then, this wand must have been waiting for you. Take good care of it, young man."

"I will," Harry promised, smiling. "I love my wand."

HP

"Since you were so well behaved, each of you may either have an ice cream or a new book," Trelawney told them, once they left the wand maker's shop.

"Ice cream!"

"Book!" the children shouted, simultaneously, causing the adults to roll their eyes in annoyance.

"Look Dudley, we could go and check what children's books they have. Maybe there are some interesting books in the magical world," Harry said, convincingly, with an eagerness that managed to infest Dudley with the same enthusiasm.

Thirty minutes and much discussions and advice from Remus later, Dudley chose the first and Harry the second book of the series _'The Five Magical Friends'_ and profusely thanked Trelawney for buying it for them.

"You're very welcome," the teacher replied, smiling in apparent amusement.

HP

After dinner the same day, Remus invited Dudley and all of his younger colleagues, namely Petunia, Sybill and Severus, to his and Harry's quarters. While the children busied themselves playing together with the toy version of the Hogwarts Express that they had received for Christmas, transporting animals from London to Hogsmeade and back, the four adults spoke about their progress.

"I can't believe that Dudley and Harry are playing so peacefully together," Petunia thought aloud, unable to take her eyes from the children.

"They're very good children," Remus commended them. "They do as they're told, and they learn quickly, both of them. Harry's magic is much more advanced than Dudley's though, and we had to get an adult's wand for him."

"Yes, that was extraordinary," Sybill agreed, offering the others a story about the thirty minutes that they had spent at Ollivander's.

"When is Harry going to have time for Potions?" Severus enquired. "I'd like to begin teaching him as soon as possible."

After a short discussion, they agreed that Harry should join Severus in his classroom for the last afternoon class every day, while Remus would specifically practise easy spells with Dudley, which weren't a problem for Harry anyway.

"Is it not too dangerous for Harry in the Potions classroom, depending on what the older students are brewing?" Petunia asked, causing Harry to have to hide a gasp.

 _'I didn't know that she cared about me,'_ he thought, feeling very grateful when Snape replied in a soft voice, "I won't have Harry sit with the students, at least not before he has some experience. I'm going to place a desk right next to my own, where I can supervise him. For the beginning, it would be the best if I could teach him the basics during the remaining days of the holidays, when I can fully concentrate on him."

HP

At the same time, Albus Dumbledore was playing Wizard's Chess together with his best friend, Minerva.

"I heard that Remus invited all the young teachers into his and Harry's quarters tonight," Minerva spoke up in apparent amusement. "Apparently, even Severus and Sybill eagerly accepted the invitation."

Albus smiled, contentedly. "Yes dear, it's amazing what two young people are able to do. Remus is fairly shy, and Petunia still doesn't feel extremely comfortable in the magical world, oh well, at least I can't imagine that she does. Nevertheless, they both managed to bring the young people together, which is a huge achievement."

"I wonder if there's going to be more to it than it seems," Minerva commented, while taking one of Albus' knights. "Severus even gave Petunia a tour around Hogwarts this afternoon, and during the last week, he did not miss as much as one meal in the Great Hall."

"That's true," Albus agreed, smiling, recalling how often he, Minerva or Poppy had to go and fetch the Potions Master on time for the meals.

HP

Harry thoroughly enjoyed his first session with Professor Snape.

"The other day, you asked me if the brewing of potions was similar to cooking," the professor began to speak in his soft, baritone voice, which Harry found very soothing. Seeing Harry nod, he explained, "It is a little similar, however, when brewing potions, everything has to be absolutely exact. To describe it in a few words, this means that the exact amounts of ingredients have to be prepared in the correct way, must be inserted at the right time, and the exact number of stirs have to be performed in the correct direction."

"All right, sir," Harry said, feeling delighted to be able to learn something as complicated as this. "Thank you so much for teaching me, sir."

The Potions Master nodded, contentedly, and began with his first lesson, during which he explained about the differences between magical and non magical ingredients as well as the different ways of preparing ingredients.

Apparently realising that Harry was hanging on his lips, the professor suggested, "Shall we try it out and brew a simple healing potion, which is the basis for many other potions?"

"Yes sir," Harry agreed in absolute delight. For the next fifteen minutes, he busied himself preparing ingredients exactly like the professor showed him to do, before he watched closely as the older wizard brewed the potion using his ingredients.

"Amazing," he blurted out, when he looked at the finished, slightly creamy liquid that was simmering in the cauldron. "Thank you so much for allowing me to help, sir."

"Any time, Harry, thank you for assisting," Snape replied, and Harry noticed a small smile playing on the man's lips. "This is the potion, which all first-years get to brew during their first Potions class," the professor added, causing Harry to feel very big.

HP

Severus observed with fascination how diligently the five-year-old prepared the ingredients. _'Well, he listened closer than any first-year would,'_ he thought, _'and that in combination with Lily's abilities might make him a fantastic brewer.'_ He refrained, however, from commending the boy, noticing to his surprise that he did not mind the boy assisting him. Never before had he been able to tolerate anyone in his lab with the sole exception of Lily. But perhaps her son would be the one to break that record. He was quiet, only spoke when he needed to ask something, and he did not grate on his nerves as he knew everyone else would in a similar situation.

"Well done," he merely said. "Tomorrow, I will quiz you about what I told you today, and we'll see how much you remember."

"Yes sir," Harry replied, seemingly ecstatic about the matter.

During the rest of the day, Severus could not help images of himself assisting his mother in the lab as a five-year-old tyke pop up in his mind, and he had to admit to himself that he felt strangely contented with the prospect of having found a promising assistant for the future.

HP

Harry and Dudley were both very excited, knowing that the students would come back to Hogwarts any minute now.

"I hope they're nice," Harry said, worriedly, when the sounds of many feet storming into the entrance hall penetrated his ears.

"There will sure be some nice ones," Dudley replied, making Harry think that Dudley had completely changed since they had come to Hogwarts two weeks ago.

 _'He's much nicer now than he was before,'_ he thought, feeling very happy. He timidly watched hundreds of students rush into the Great Hall and occupy the four house tables with much noise. Everyone was talking to each other in clear excitement, and the atmosphere of happiness spread to the two boys, who were sitting between Petunia and Remus at the head table.

When everyone was seated, the headmaster stood up, causing the students to quieten down and look at him in clear expectation.

"Good evening girls and boys, welcome back to Hogwarts. Tonight, I have a few new members of this community to introduce to you, namely Petunia Dursley, who is working as our new librarian, since Madam Pince has retired at the end of last year. We also have two five-year-olds living in the castle now, Mrs. Dursley's son Dudley and his cousin Harry Potter. Both are being home schooled by Remus Lupin, who has also become a permanent resident of Hogwarts. Please behave towards the children, otherwise, you will be punished adequately," he added in a stern voice. "If there are students from second year onwards who would like to babysit in case Mrs. Dursley or Mr. Lupin are otherwise occupied, please come and speak to one of us after the feast. And now, enjoy the food that the elves have prepared for us."

Harry was amazed at how much noise the students were able to make while they appeared to be eating. When he was finished with his meal, he felt very tired and assumed that it was already later than his usual bed time. However, not wanting to miss anything interesting, he tried hard to keep himself awake, sensing that Dudley was doing the same.

HP

When most of the students seemed to have finished eating, two students came up to the head table, grinning at each other, before the girl spoke up first.

"I'd like to babysit the children whenever you need help," she offered in a soft voice, grinning at Harry and Dudley.

"Me too," the boy, who was standing next to her, added.

"Thank you very much," Dumbledore replied before turning to Petunia and Remus. "Petunia, Remus, these are Dora Tonks and Charlie Weasley, both second years, Hufflepuff respectively Gryffindor," he introduced the students.

"Thank you very much for your kind offer. If we need help, we'll send our house-elf to contact you," Remus replied, smiling.

"Thank you very much," Petunia echoed. "We really appreciate it."

 _'_ _They look both nice,'_ Harry thought, feeling thrilled at the idea of getting to know students.

HP

Too soon for Harry's liking, the following two weeks passed, and Remus informed him one evening, "Tomorrow will be the night of the full moon. Right after the last afternoon class, we need to get the Wolfsbane potion from Professor Snape. Since you're in his classroom during the last afternoon class, just stay there until Dudley and I will be with you."

"All right," Harry agreed, already knowing from the pain in his limbs that the transformation was going to occur in the very near future.

"Poor Dudley," he said, pensively. "It'll be the first time for him."

"Harry," Remus replied in a soft voice, "don't tell him that it's the first time for him. Professor Dumbledore has made him and your aunt believe that you have both been bitten at the same time."

"But it was me," Harry stated, feeling horrified at the thought.

"No one must know that, Harry," Remus insisted in a firm but gentle voice. "No one but very few of my colleagues know about the matter, and we wish to leave it at that. So please don't speak about it with anyone. Don't tell anyone about being a werewolf either."

"I know," Harry said in a small voice, feeling very safe and reassured in Remus' presence.

HP

When Harry trailed down to the dungeons on the following day, he already felt the upcoming transformation. His hands were slightly shaking, and he could barely concentrate on the preparation of the ingredients that the professor had assigned him.

"Harry," Snape suddenly addressed him. "Leave the ingredients be and follow me." He instructed one of the seventh-year students, whom Harry knew to be the head boy, to supervise the class for a moment, before he led Harry into his office and made him drink a potion from a large goblet. It was dark green and had a smell that was everything but appetising.

"Is that the Wolfsbane potion?" Harry wondered aloud, while Snape called his house-elf, Cicero, whom Harry had already met once before.

"Harry, yes, that was the Wolfsbane. Don't worry, child. Everything will be all right," the professor replied in a soothing voice before he instructed the elf, "Cicero, please take Harry to the safe room."

"Yes Master Severus," Cicero replied and reached for Harry's hand to pop away together with him.

An instant later, Harry found himself in a plain stone room that was only equipped with tiny windows. There was a door with as much as a small window in it, but the door was secured with thick steel bars. The room was only lit by a couple of torches that were installed around the room just underneath the ceiling, and in the faint light he could see that a large heap of raw meat was piled up in one corner of the room. _'Where are Remus and Dudley?'_ Harry wondered, suddenly feeling very alone, especially after Cicero popped away.

To his relief, his guardian and his cousin arrived not much later, and they only had to wait for a short while before the transformation set in.

Even if the transformation hurt as much as usual, Harry found it amazing that he was able to keep his mind due to the Wolfsbane. _'This is great,_ ' he thought, _'especially compared to the last time, when I attacked Dudley and Uncle Vernon without knowing what I was doing._ '

After devouring the huge pile of meat with gusto, the three wolves curled up close to each other and spent most of the night sleeping, glad when they returned to their human forms in the morning.

"Gina," Remus called their house-elf, once the wolves were gone.

An instant later, the elf arrived and popped the three of them to a separate part of the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey looked after them and kept them for most of the day.

 _'_ _Thank Merlin that there are three of us,'_ Harry thought, when they headed to the Great Hall for dinner. _'It would be horrible to be just alone in this.'_

HP

The following months passed rather uneventfully. Harry and Dudley quickly became used to their new life at Hogwarts, and both boys loved it, unconditionally.

Harry was surprised how well he could get along with Dudley, but his cousin seemed to have completely changed, now that he was far from his father's influence. In fact, the two cousins were on the way to becoming best friends. _'Even Aunt Petunia changed for the better,'_ he thought one day. _'She's also much friendlier now.'_

Harry and Dudley also became good friends with Dora Tonks and Charlie Weasley. One day, Charlie invited Harry and Dudley to Gryffindor for their Quidditch victory party, and Remus and Professor McGonagall allowed the boys to go with huge smiles on their faces.

Ever since then, Dora and Charlie took turns taking the boys to the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff common rooms on Sunday afternoons. Both boys enjoyed the contact with the students, whom they adored greatly for being old enough to attend real classes and loved being able to ask questions about everything that came into their minds.

HP

"Aunt Rolanda," Harry addressed the flying instructor during breakfast in the morning after they had attended another Quidditch victory party, this time in the Slytherin common room. "Could you perhaps take us flying one day? Please. I really want to try it out."

Already having waited for that moment to come and having prepared brooms for the two five-year-olds, Rolanda immediately agreed and invited the boys to come with her right after breakfast.

While Remus took a seat in the stands to observe the children's first flying lesson, Harry and Dudley were taught how to sit on their brooms and take into the air. "Come Dudley," Harry shouted and make his broom rise as fast as he could like he had seen the students do during the matches. Unfortunately, his broom was not very fast, so he decided to wait for Dudley, who was flying much slower and more hesitant than himself.

Rolanda sat next to Remus, and the two adults observed the five-year-olds fly as if they had grown up with brooms.

"They're both house team material," Remus stated.

"And good ones," Rolanda added, before she conjured a Snitch and released it, instructing the boys to try catching it.

 _'_ _This is so much fun,'_ Harry thought, as he raced to catch the Snitch, as fast as his broom allowed it, only to notice that it was difficult, because the Snitch kept vanishing, sometimes just when he thought he had it. Nevertheless, it took him less than twenty minutes to catch the slippery ball. _'So pretty,'_ he thought, as he landed on the ground and handed the Snitch to Rolanda, feeling somehow proud at his success.

"You're both excellent flyers," Rolanda commended the children, who smiled with excitement and happiness.

From that time onwards, both children insisted to go flying every free minute and often managed to convince Remus to take them out to the Quidditch pitch between lunch and the beginning of their afternoon class.

"I hope you'll both get into Gryffindor," Charlie told them one day. "Since I'm going to leave Hogwarts right before you become first-years, Gryffindor is going to need at least a good Seeker by then."

"I don't want to be in any specific house," Harry whispered to Dudley later on.

"No," Dudley agreed. "It's great to have friends in all houses like we do."

By now, they had gained many friends among the students, and the adults allowed them to sit at the house tables during the meals, which Harry and Dudley enjoyed greatly.

HP

Too soon for Harry's liking, the school year came to an end, and he felt sad that all students were going to leave the castle for about two months. _'Only Dudley, I and the adults,'_ he thought. _'How boring.'_

All of a sudden, a bright flash lit his room, causing Harry to blink in surprise.

"Fawkes," he blurted out, feeling happy to see the beautiful phoenix perched at the foot of his bed. "How nice of you to visit me," he added, smiling.

#Well, little nestling, I've meant to speak with you ever since you came here, but I heard that you were very busy during the school year,# Fawkes replied in a series of trills that made Harry chuckle.

"Yes, I was, but I love Hogwarts. It's great to learn so many things," he replied, wondering what the bird wanted to speak about.

#Considering that you understand my babbling, which otherwise no one but the old grumpy one is able to comprehend, you must be a phoenix Animagus in the future,# Fawkes informed him. #Therefore, I suggest that you begin practising to become an Animagus as soon as you have time. You're quite young, but you're very powerful for your age, so it shouldn't be a problem, even if it might take a few years.#

"Err Fawkes, how exactly do I practise to become an Animagus?" Harry asked in confusion. He knew that Professor McGonagall was a cat and Snape a magical raven, but he had no clue how to transform into an animal by his own free will.

#I'm sorry, nestling, but that I don't know. You'll either have to ask Minnie-know-it-all or the old grumpy one or just do some research. Maybe the wolfie can tell you something, as all of his friends were Animagi,# Fawkes suggested, causing Harry to giggle at the bird's disrespectfulness.

"I'll try," he promised, resolved to thoroughly ponder whom of the adults he should ask. _'Maybe Severus,'_ he thought, feeling as comfortable around the Potions Master as with Remus.


	3. Chapter 3

**Soul Phoenix**  
 **by Healer Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. Rating M for multiple character deaths throughout this story.**

 _It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.  
_ _Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind feedback on the previous chapter!_

* * *

In the morning, Harry and Dudley were allowed to ride a carriage together with Dora and Charlie. As sad as they were about the matter that their friends had to leave for the holidays, as excited they were to see the real Hogwarts Express for the first time – and the Hogwarts Express did not disappoint. It was gorgeous, at least in Harry's and Dudley's opinion.

"I can't wait until we'll be allowed to board it," Dudley said to Harry, only to add, "but it's still five more years. That's an awfully long time."

"That's true," Harry agreed, nodding happily when Professor McGonagall asked if the two of them wanted to accompany her for a stroll through Hogsmeade.

HP

If Harry and Dudley had feared that they would become bored during the holidays, they were completely mistaken. While Remus and the other adults had decided that they should not have classes, because they were going to be too far ahead of their future classmates and thus would become bored during their Hogwarts years, all adults took turns caring for the children.

When they helped Petunia rearrange the library on two consecutive days, they spent the following three days re-planting pots in one of the greenhouses with Professor Sprout.

Another day, Professor Babbling took the children to the Ancient Runes classroom to teach them basic knowledge about Ancient Runes, although the subject was only taught at Hogwarts as an elective subject from third year onwards.

While Harry found Potions much more interesting than Runes, Dudley was very interested in the runes that the professor showed them and asked eagerly if she could teach him more during the holidays.

After all teachers had occupied the children for at least a day, the first month of the holidays were already over, and Dudley's sixth birthday warranted for a large party. Harry almost became jealous at the broom that Dudley received for his birthday, however, he told himself that he would surely get one for his own birthday, too.

During the remaining weeks of the holidays, Harry spent all mornings assisting Professor Snape – or Severus as the man had allowed him to call him in private – with the brewing of the potions for the hospital wing. After a couple of months of watching him prepare ingredients, Severus had decided that Harry should begin brewing himself, as he seemed to be very adept at his favourite subject. Therefore, they had gone over to taking turns preparing the ingredients and actually brewing, and Harry enjoyed himself greatly.

At the same time, Dudley spent most of the mornings with Professor Babbling studying Ancient Runes.

In the afternoons, Petunia, Remus or sometimes other members of the Hogwarts staff took them to interesting places within the magical or the muggle world, and the two children had much fun.

HP

One day, Professor McGonagall took the children to the zoo in London for the afternoon. Both of them enjoyed themselves a lot – until they came to look at the snakes.

"Hi there," Harry addressed a snake, just like he and Dudley had done with most of the animals throughout the zoo.

However, more than any of the other animals, the snake moved its head and came close to the glass that separated the snakes from the visitors.

"What's it doing?" Dudley asked in excitement.

"Are you happy to have visitorsss?" Harry queried, unaware that he was hissing his question.

"Alwaysss, but thiss isss the first time that someone speaksss to me," the snake replied.

"Harry, why are you hissing at it? Look, it's hissing back," Dudley spoke up, making a step backwards in fright.

"Harry, do you understand what it's saying?" McGonagall enquired in clear shock.

"Yes," Harry replied in surprise. "Why? Am I not supposed to…" He slowly trailed off, looking into McGonagall's and Dudley's upset faces.

"No, it's a snake," Dudley said, seemingly taken aback.

"You're a Parselmouth, Harry," McGonagall informed him. "This is a very rare ability, and you better keep quiet about it."

"Is it bad?" Harry asked, horrified.

"No Harry," the professor reassured him, gently putting her arm around his back. "It's not bad."

Not wanting to speak snake language again, Harry merely waved his hand at the snake, when they turned around to leave. Somehow, he felt uncomfortable at the news of being able to converse with snakes, even if the professor had promised that it was all right.

HP

While they had apparated on the way to the zoo, McGonagall decided to take the Knight Bus on the way back, knowing that neither boy had ever travelled by that means before.

"Be careful what's going to happen," she warned the boys before waving her wand to call the bus, earning a simultaneous "Wow", when the purple triple-decker bus arrived with a huge jump.

"How cool is that?" Dudley spoke up, causing Harry to nod, eagerly.

"Absolutely brilliant," he added.

They boarded the bus, and the professor instructed them to hold on to the bars tightly before turning to the conductor. "Three tickets to Hogwarts please."

The bus was fairly crowded and alternated between making huge jumps and racing along narrow streets – to the boys' absolute pleasure.

"This is really great," Harry spoke up in delight, when the bus did another jump. "We should do that again some time." _'I wonder if Aunt Petunia will like it,'_ he quietly added just to himself.

HP

"Harry," McGonagall addressed the boy, when they walked back to Hogwarts after the thirty-minute ride on the Knight Bus, "one of my good friends has a grandson, who is just as old as the two of you, and I was wondering if I should invite him for your birthday. What do you think?"

"Yes, that would be nice," Harry replied, glancing at Dudley.

"Of course," his cousin agreed, before he asked, hesitantly, "Is he a wizard like us?"

"Yes, he is. His name is Neville, and he's a very quiet, shy boy, at least according to his grandmother," McGonagall told them and admitted, "His grandmother told me the other day that she'd like Neville to gain some friends, but even if she sometimes meets with other people from the old, magical families, Neville barely ever speaks with anyone. I thought that maybe the two of you would get around to friend him, especially since you have the whole castle to show him and enjoy yourselves."

"We'll take care of him," Dudley promised.

"May we show him everything that's in the castle?" Harry enquired, wearing a mischievous expression.

"Not the teachers' private rooms of course, provided that you can access it, and nothing dangerous," the professor replied in a strict voice.

"All right," Harry agreed, looking forward to meeting Neville.

HP

Harry's birthday was a warm and sunny day, two days after the full moon, so that Harry and Dudley both felt very happy to be back in their human forms and over the after-effects of the transformation.

Just like Dudley a month earlier, Harry received many gifts from all the adults in the castle. He even got a small bag with coins and was told that he could use them when he went to Hogsmeade again together with one of the adults.

"I'm going to buy book eleven of The Five Magical Friends," Harry told Dudley in excitement. Both boys loved the series, of which there were at least fifty books, and the teachers, knowing about the matter, sometimes bought the next book in the series for them.

The best present, however, was the broomstick along with a golden Snitch. As soon as he had unwrapped all of his presents, he asked, "Can we go flying?"

Dudley grinned. "Sure."

"I'll go with you," Remus offered in clear amusement, apparently not having expected anything else.

Since the adults knew that Harry was an excellent flyer, his new broom was equipped with less restrictions than the school's children's broom, and Harry thoroughly enjoyed himself flying as fast the broom allowed it, trying to catch the Snitch as quickly as possible. Dudley had become quite a good flyer as well, and he loved roaming the grounds on a broom, but he never managed to beat Harry to the Snitch.

HP

Neville arrived shortly after lunch together with his grandmother, Augusta Longbottom, who had been best friends with McGonagall, Aunt Poppy and Aunt Rolanda ever since their own time as students at Hogwarts. Neville was very shy and tried to hide behind his grandmother.

"Hi Neville, I'm Dudley, and this is my cousin Harry," Dudley addressed the timid boy, smiling friendly.

"Hi Neville," Harry echoed. "Shall we go to my room and play with the Hogwarts Express?" he then suggested.

"I'd like that," Neville replied, returning the smile.

Together, they walked to Remus' and Harry's quarters, making a detour to the library and the Astronomy tower to show Neville their favourite spots at Hogwarts, before they spent the next hour questioning their guest about which spells and charms he had already learned.

"I can't really cast spells yet," Neville admitted.

"Do you have a children's wand?" Harry asked, curiously, knowing that Dudley could only cast magic with a wand in contrary to himself.

"No, I have my father's wand," Neville replied, sighing. "I can't get it to work very well though."

Harry remained pensive for a moment, before he suggested, "Let's go to Hogsmeade and buy you a children's wand.

"Neville, do you like to fly?" Dudley spoke up and suggested, "We could fly to Hogsmeade."

Neville cast his new friends a frightened look. "I've never tried it, but I'd love to."

The three children ran out onto the grounds, and Harry handed Neville his old school broom. They patiently taught him how to fly, and after a couple of minutes of hesitant trying, Neville was well able to fly the broom and seemed very happy.

"All right, let's fly to Hogsmeade then," Dudley decided, and the three six-year-olds mounted their brooms and fled to the near-by village. Right in front of the Quadruple Circle, they landed on the main street and entered the department store.

"My friend here needs a children's wand," Harry spoke up, and after a few minutes of trying, Neville had found a wand that matched him well.

"That makes 1 Galleon and 5 Sickles," they were told, causing Harry's eyes to widen.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I only have 1 Galleon," he said, pulling the bag, which he had received in the morning, out of his robe pocket. "Could you perhaps take the rest from the Potter vault?" He knew that had to be possible, since Remus and he had done such a thing before, even if just once and Remus had said that it had to be an exception.

"Can you prove that you're the rightful owner of the Potter vault?" the young witch enquired, causing Harry to lift his fringe. "Oh that's all right," she then said and added, "I'll give you the wand for one Galleon. It's nice of you to buy a wand for your friend."

"Thank you," Harry replied, happily, handing the new wand to Neville.

"Thank you so much, Harry," Neville said, gratefully. "I wished I could give you the money back, but right now, I don't have anything. My granny is very strict," he admitted.

"Don't worry, that's fine," Harry replied, smiling. "You're very welcome." _'Making Neville happy is more important than buying a new book,'_ he thought, feeling very contented at his new friend's delighted expression.

"Shall we go to the apothecary next?" Dudley suggested. "Harry told me that they have the most interesting animal ingredients there."

"Yes, that they have, but I think we should fly back quickly," Harry contradicted. "The adults probably won't appreciate it if they get to know that we came here just by ourselves."

"That's true," Dudley and Neville agreed, and they quickly mounted their brooms and flew back to Hogwarts.

Just when they stepped into the entrance hall, excited and overjoyed, they met Remus.

"Oh I was just going to look for you," he said, smiling. "Where have you been?"

"Flying, and we had so much fun," Neville was the one who replied first - to Harry's and Dudley's surprise.

"That's good. How does birthday cake and hot chocolate sound then?" Remus suggested.

"Oh, that sounds just great," Harry replied, and the three children hurried to put the brooms away and wash their hands, glad that no one seemed to have noticed about their trip to Hogsmeade.

When Neville had to return home on time for dinner, Harry and Dudley invited him to come and visit them again as soon as his granny would let him.

"I'll try," Neville promised, looking very happy at the thought of having gained two friends.

"That was my best birthday, ever," Harry mumbled, happily, when Remus came to tuck him into bed that evening. "Thank you so much, Remus."

"I'm glad to hear that, Harry. Good night my boy," Remus replied, smiling.

HP

A few days later, Augusta Longbottom visited Minerva McGonagall.

"Oh Minerva, I can't tell you how grateful I am - to you and also to little Harry. Ever since Neville came back from Hogwarts, he's like a different boy. He's happy, not so shy anymore, and he's able to properly cast simple spells with the wand that Harry bought for him. All these years, I feared that he was a Squib, but he isn't. Anyway, thank you so very much, Minerva."

Minerva stared at her overexcited friend in surprise.

"Augusta, will you allow me to call the boys here? I'm afraid I don't know anything about a wand," Minerva replied, wondering what the boys might have been up to.

"Of course, Minerva," Augusta replied, gently. "I'd love to ask them something anyway."

"Malcolm," Minerva called her personal house-elf. "Please go and fetch Harry and Dudley for me, provided that they're not just assisting in the potions lab or such."

HP

Harry and Dudley walked over to the entrance door to McGonagall's quarters, which was just six doors from Remus' and Harry's, wearing terrified expressions.

"If she's together with Neville's granny, she has surely heard about our excursion to Hogsmeade," Harry said, darkly.

"Or at least about the wand," Dudley added, horrified, before he hesitantly knocked at the door.

An instant later, the professor opened the door and motioned them inside.

"Hello Mrs. Longbottom," Harry greeted Neville's grandmother.

"Hello Mrs. Longbottom," Dudley echoed, giving McGonagall a questioning look.

"Harry and Dudley, thank you so much for being such good friends to Neville," the old lady spoke up, smiling warmly. "For the first time in his life, he told me that he has friends, and he's very happy. I'd also like to thank you for the children's wand. It works like a charm for Neville."

"Oh that's great," Harry blurted out in relief. "He told us that he wasn't able to do any spell with his father's wand, so we thought…" He slowly trailed off, realising that McGonagall was glaring daggers at him.

"You thought what?" McGonagall spoke up. "Where exactly did you get that wand?"

Harry and Dudley exchanged a glance, before Harry admitted in a barely audible voice, "We flew to Hogsmeade and bought it at the Quadruple Circle."

Augusta Longbottom merely let out a small gasp, however, McGonagall asked in a sharp voice, "You flew children's brooms to Hogsmeade to buy a wand? Without having an adult supervising you?"

"Yes Professor, I'm sorry," Harry replied, trying hard to keep back the tears.

"Sorry," Dudley echoed.

"Neville rode a broom?" Mrs. Longbottom asked, incredulously. However, she looked much less angry than McGonagall.

"Yes, the school's children broom, which was mine until I received my own for my birthday," Harry admitted. "He was scared at first, but we showed him how to fly, and then he loved it, so we thought we could just fly to Hogsmeade."

"Minerva," Mrs. Longbottom turned to her friend, "I understand that you're upset about that excursion, however, I'd like to commend the boys for teaching Neville just normal things, which he had been afraid of. I'd also like to ask if you could possibly ask Mr. Lupin if he would be willing to teach Neville together with Harry and Dudley. I believe that it would do Neville good to be with such nice boys on a regular basis."

While Harry and Dudley exchanged an excited look, McGonagall remained pensive for a moment, before she replied, "Well, we'll speak about the punishment later on. As to the class with Remus Lupin, there's a problem." She let out a deep sigh. "Augusta," she finally continued, "I know that I can fully rely on you to keep the secret, but Neville is only six. We can ask Remus Lupin, but I suppose that Albus wants to cast a charm on Neville to provide him from telling a secret that's involved in that class."

"You make me really curious," Mrs. Longbottom replied. "I fully agree though, and since I trust that Albus knows what he's doing, I don't have a problem with him casting a precaution charm at Neville."

McGonagall leaned into the fireplace and called Remus and the headmaster over. "I'm sorry for calling you, but we need to discuss something. Neville wants to join Harry and Dudley for their classes with Remus," she explained shortly.

Remus and the headmaster exchanged a glance. "Augusta," Dumbledore spoke up. "Will you promise that you keep Remus', Harry's and Dudley's secret to yourself?"

The old lady pulled a wand and declared, "I herewith swear on my magic to keep Mr. Lupin's, Harry's and Dudley's secret."

"All three of them are werewolves, so there won't be classes on the day after the full moon," the headmaster revealed the secret.

"Two young boys?" Mrs. Longbottom asked, seemingly horrified. "Oh well, I trust that you make sure that it's safe for Neville to have classes with them. Mr. Lupin, will you please agree to teach Neville together with the two boys?"

"Harry, Dudley, would you mind having Neville in your class?" Remus asked the children, giving both of them a sharp look.

"We'd love it," Harry was the first to respond with eagerness.

"It would be just great," Dudley added. "We really like Neville, and it would be cool to have him here."

"Very well, then I don't have a problem with it either. I suppose that Neville could travel here and back through the fireplace in Harry's and my quarters," Remus agreed, giving Mrs. Longbottom a questioning look.

"Thank you so very much, Mr. Lupin," Mrs. Longbottom replied, seemingly happy. "I'm sure Neville will be over the moon with joy. It's boring for him to be at home the whole day with an old lady like myself being his only company."

"Augusta, that's understandable, and if the boys are already friends, it's a brilliant solution," Dumbledore spoke up, the usual twinkle in his eyes. "Please don't tell anyone else about this arrangement though, as we'd like to keep the matter with the lycanthropy a secret," he added, pleasantly.

HP

 _'_ _How can I punish two six-year-olds?'_ Minerva wondered. _'Yes, I could ground them or ask their guardians to punish them, but knowing that they don't have much time during the school year to do as they wish, I really don't want to ground them. Especially since they did not do what they did to harm anyone. On the contrary, they wanted to help a boy who really needed it, and Harry spent the money that he received to buy one of his favourite books for Neville's wand.'_ She transformed into her feline form and curled up in front of the fireplace to further ponder the matter. _'I could assign them an essay about some Transfiguration topic, but considering that they're only six years old, it doesn't make much sense,'_ she mused.

Finally, she made a decision. "Harry and Dudley," she addressed the boys at dinner time, "concerning your punishment for you-know-what, you will assist the Gryffindor house-elves one day to prepare Gryffindor house for the new school year. Malcolm is aware of the matter and will inform you of the exact time."

"All right, Professor," the two boys replied, simultaneously, feeling extremely relieved that the Gryffindor head had not informed their guardians about their wrongdoing.

 _'_ _Thank Merlin,'_ Harry thought, when Dudley and he walked up to the Gryffindor tower for their punishment on one of the last days of the holidays. _'Remus would surely have done something much harsher like forbid us to fly for a month or such.'_

HP

When they arrived in the Gryffindor common room, Malcolm introduced them to Lissy and Sissy, two of the elves who were responsible to clean the tower and make sure that everything was ready for the students to come back.

To the boys' delight, the elves taught them a couple of house cleaning spells, which they could use to clean the dormitories. They also taught them how to distribute towels equally to all bathrooms, and Harry and Dudley were absolutely thrilled to be able to learn such interesting spells from the elves.

"Good that we brought our wands with us," Dudley whispered to Harry, who just returned an enthusiastic nod.

"There's another thing that I'd love to learn though," he said, pensively. "Lissy," he addressed one of the elves, "don't you think it would look good if we collected a bunch of flowers from the grounds and placed them on the tables in the common room?"

"Of course, let's go," Lissy replied and, reaching for Harry's and Dudley's hand, popped away with the children.

"Lissy," Harry spoke up, when they returned and distributed the flowers into vases that the elf conjured for them, "can you please teach us how to pop?"

To his chagrin, the house-elf cast him a horrified look. "I is sorry, Master Harry, but I'm not allowed to teach elf knowledge to human children," Lissy replied in a soft voice.

HP

"Let's ask Gina," Harry said to Dudley, when they headed to the Great Hall for dinner.

"Okay, but do you think it's so different from Apparition?" Dudley replied, questioningly.

"It is different," Harry emphasized. "You can't apparate within Hogwarts, but the elves can pop all over the castle. Can you imagine how convenient that would be?" He quirked an eyebrow at his cousin.

"Oh, that's true," Dudley agreed. "I hope Gina will teach us."

Gina hesitantly agreed, however, pointed out that the children should not make it known that they were able to pop and especially not tell anyone that she had been the one who taught them. When both children promised, she agreed with them to teach them in Harry's room every evening right after dinner, as that time was about the only time when the children were unsupervised and supposed to be playing in one of their rooms.

Unfortunately, popping was much more difficult than they had anticipated, and it took several months before both children were able to do so, especially since Gina insisted that at the same time they had to practise making themselves invisible. "You can't just pop somewhere, where humans might see you. So you must turn invisible before popping."

HP

As much as Harry and Dudley had enjoyed their holidays, they looked forward to having the students back and having classes with Remus again, this time even together with Neville.

Their first class together with Neville took place in the morning of the first of September, and Remus shortly made the children repeat what they had covered during the last year to assess how far Neville was. He was, in fact, a little advanced in magic, however, behind in muggle primary school knowledge, and at the end of the day, Remus nodded contentedly, sure that the children were almost at the same level.

Like during the previous school year, Harry joined Severus in the Potions classroom for the last afternoon class, where he either brewed first-year potions or was asked to brew something that was urgently needed in the hospital wing.

"You're using the potions brewed by a six-year-old in the hospital wing?" Remus asked, incredulously, when Poppy thanked Harry at dinner time for a batch of Pepperup potion one day.

"Only if a six-year-old is as proficient as Harry," Poppy replied, causing Severus to smirk.

"Aunt Poppy, you're very welcome," Harry replied, pleasantly, from where he and Dudley were sitting at the nearest end of the Hufflepuff table.

"You must be careful that Harry and Dudley won't be incredibly bored when they're going to be students," the headmaster warned his colleagues.

"In the worst case, I could always make Harry my apprentice," Severus replied, smirking, causing his colleagues to gape at the Potions Master in clear surprise.

Harry grinned, thinking, _'I love it when he shocks them all, wearing a blank face at that.'_

HP

One day, Harry asked Severus what he had already meant to ask months ago. "Severus, can you teach me how to become an Animagus?"

If the professor was shocked about the question, he did not let it show on his face. Instead, he replied, pensively, "Harry, I can try to teach you, but I'm not sure if it's possible for a werewolf to become an Animagus at all."

"Fawkes told me that I'd probably become a phoenix Animagus," Harry admitted. "That's why I'd like to try."

The Potions Master nodded in understanding. "Very well then, since we can't practise in the Potions classroom during class time, I suggest that we spend the first couple of minutes practising whenever you come to assist during the weekends."

Harry smiled broadly. "Thank you so much, Severus. I promise I'll try hard."

"Don't get your hopes up, Harry," the professor warned him. "It's difficult, and many people aren't able to become Animagi, even if they're not werewolves and much older than you."

"I know," Harry replied, "but I still want to try."

"Very well, in order to become an Animagus, you must know everything about the animal that you wish to become," Severus informed him. "I suggest that you check the library for books about phoenixes."

"I'll do that," Harry decided, enthusiastically. "I think I want to become a soul phoenix. I don't know what the difference is between him and a fire phoenix like Fawkes, but the core of my wand is the feather from a soul phoenix, so I think it should match me."

A smile played on the Potions Master's face, as he replied, "Good luck Harry. See to it that you find out as much as you can about the soul phoenix."

HP

Harry and Dudley spent the whole evening in the library searching for books about phoenixes, however, while they found much information about fire, water, ice, earth and wind phoenixes, there was nothing about soul phoenixes.

"I'm sure that Mr. Ollivander said it was a soul phoenix, didn't he?" Harry asked Dudley, who nodded reassuringly. "I'm going to ask Fawkes," he finally decided.

"I'm afraid you'll have to do that tomorrow," Petunia spoke up, giving the children a stern look from her desk. "It's already bed time for the two of you."

"Oh all right," the boys replied, obediently.

"Good night Mum."

"Good night Aunt Petunia."

HP

At breakfast the following morning, Harry made a detour by the head table and addressed the headmaster. "Professor Dumbledore, I'd like to speak with Fawkes for a moment. May I?"

Dumbledore smiled fondly at the child. "Of course my boy, why don't you join Fawkes and me between lunch and your afternoon classes?"

"Yes, thank you sir," Harry replied, happily, before he joined Dudley at the Slytherin table.

HP

After lunch, Harry followed the old wizard into his office, where he stepped in front of Fawkes' perch.

"Fawkes," he addressed the phoenix. "I need your help."

#Hello nestling, what can I do for you?# the phoenix trilled, sounding as friendly as always when Harry had met him.

"I want to get some information about soul phoenixes, but I can't find anything," Harry told the phoenix, gently petting the bird's crown feathers.

#Ah, that's not a problem,# Fawkes reassured him. #I know one soul phoenix, but he's currently residing in phoenix land, where I can't take you in your human form. But, while my Godric was a fire phoenix Animagus, Ceridwen was a soul phoenix Animagus. You can simply speak with her.#

Harry gave the phoenix a bewildered look. "Ceridwen Hufflepuff?" he asked, incredulously. "But she lived about a thousand years ago. How would I be able to speak with her?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Soul Phoenix**  
 **by Healer Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. Rating M for multiple character deaths throughout this story.**

 _It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.  
_ _Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind feedback on the previous chapter!_

* * *

Fawkes flashed Harry right in front of the hospital wing. #Look nestling, over there is a portrait of the four founders of Hogwarts. This portrait leads to the founders' quarters, and since you as the heir of the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw family and the Hufflepuff line, plus due to your victory over Voldemort also the heir of Slytherin, you're the owner of Hogwarts and as such allowed to use the founders' quarters. Just go inside. You'll also find a portrait of Ceridwen in one of the bedrooms.#

#Godric,# Fawkes addressed the founder in the portrait. #The nestling here wants to speak with the Teach-me-all.#

Godric chuckled and explained to the others that Harry apparently wished to speak with Ceridwen.

"Of course my dear, step inside. I'm sure Ceridwen will be very happy to see you," a very friendly witch, who Harry supposed was Helga Hufflepuff, invited him.

"Thank you Professor," Harry replied, smiling, as he observed how Helga leaned into Salazar's arm and Rowena into Godric's, thus making a corridor between the two couples for him to walk through.

Amazed, Harry followed Fawkes into the founders' quarters. Arriving in a huge living room, which had clearly been updated to a more modern time than that of the founders', even if the furniture and everything still looked as if from the medieval ages, he saw another life size portrait of all four founders, which occupied one of the walls.

"Excuse me, Professors, where can I find Ceridwen?" he addressed the founders.

"Don't you think you should introduce yourself first?" Salazar growled, causing Harry to apologize.

#Don't listen to the grumpy one,# Fawkes advised him. #He's very moody.#

"I'm sorry sir, I'm Harry Potter," Harry said, not sure what else he should explain.

"Ah, I've heard of you in the headmaster's office," Godric suddenly spoke up. "You're the heir of all of us, is that correct?"

"I think so, sir," Harry replied in a small voice, still feeling quite intimidated by Salazar's glare. "Fawkes told me that Ceridwen was a soul phoenix Animagus, and since I'd like to become one myself, I'd like to ask her for advice and information," he added, hesitantly.

"Harry, Ceridwen will be very happy to help you," Helga spoke up in a gentle voice. "The second room on the right hand side is hers, and there you'll find a portrait of her. By the way," she added, pointing to a door at the other side of the room, "if you go through that door, you'll be in the Parlour, the only room within this castle where you can speak with Hogwarts without having to touch her wall. Try it out sometime. I know that she'd be very happy if you spoke with her."

"I will. Thank you Professor," Harry said, gratefully and went to meet Ceridwen first.

He hesitantly stepped into the second room on the right side, glad that the door was open, so that he could just enter the room.

"Hello," he shyly addressed the middle-aged witch in the life size portrait, "are you Ceridwen Hufflepuff?"

"Yes, that I am, and oh, I know who you are. You must be Harry, my many times great great grandson," Ceridwen replied, smiling. Apparently noticing Harry's surprised expression, she added, "I've seen you from the portrait in the spy room."

"The spy room?" Harry asked, chuckling. "That sounds interesting."

"Oh yes, it is," Ceridwen confirmed. "You can listen in to all conversations that are taking place in the headmaster's office and in the staff room. So, what exactly brings you here today, my boy?"

"I'd like to become a soul phoenix Animagus, but I need some information about a soul phoenix, and Fawkes advised me to speak with you," Harry admitted, somehow feeling it very soothing to speak with his relative. _'She seems very nice,'_ he thought.

"Harry," Ceridwen asked in a sterner voice, "can you see auras?"

"Err.. you mean people's colours?" Harry confirmed, causing the witch in the portrait to smile.

"Yes, exactly," she replied, giving him a sharp look.

"Yes, I can see the colours, but I don't know what they mean," he said, frowning.

"Well, that I can tell you, although it doesn't really matter for the beginning," Ceridwen replied, pensively. "If you can see auras, you're predestined to become a soul phoenix Animagus though. Congratulations, Harry. It's a wonderful Animagus form. The soul phoenix is the purest of all phoenixes."

"Thank you." Harry smiled, happily.

Fawkes suddenly flashed into the room. "Nestling, your afternoon class is going to begin in a moment. Shall I take you back, quickly?"

"Oh no," Harry groaned. "Sorry Grandmother, may I come back to speak with you again?"

"Of course dear," Ceridwen confirmed. "I look forward to it. Just call me Ceridwen though. Oh by the way, bring a small frame, a mini portrait. Then I can supervise your practice and perhaps help you."

"All right, I will. Thank you so much, Ceridwen," Harry shouted, already grabbing Fawkes' tail feathers.

HP

In the evening, Harry told Remus about the founders' quarters with excitement. "Can we get a photo frame somewhere, so that Ceridwen can visit us here?" he then asked.

Remus chuckled at the excited boy and pointed to the empty portrait frame at the inside of their entrance door. "We really should get a portrait for this frame," he then said. "I don't know if Ceridwen would be willing to guard our rooms, but you could ask her. As your great grandmother…"

"Yeah, Remus, you're the best," Harry blurted out, eagerly. "May I quickly go and ask her?"

"No Harry, you can ask her tomorrow," Remus decided. "Now, it's time for you to go to bed."

HP

In the morning, Harry ate a very quick breakfast and then urged Dudley to accompany him.

"Where are we going?" his cousin asked in surprise.

"To the founders' quarters," Harry explained and told Dudley about his visit with their great grandmother.

"I'd love to see her, but between breakfast and the morning classes?" Dudley asked, incredulously. "I wasn't even finished eating."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Harry apologized. "I only want to ask her if she's willing to guard our rooms."

"I'd love to guard your rooms, Harry," Ceridwen replied in a soft voice, when he repeated the question. "Thank you for inviting me. My own, old room is much too quiet for my liking."

"I also brought a small frame, so that I can show you where the door is," Harry explained, and Ceridwen quickly hopped into the small frame, before he slid it back into his robe pocket.

HP

Harry could not wait for his class to end on that day. After a quick dinner, he hurried back home to talk with his great grandmother. _'If she still can do magic, even as a portrait, I'll ask her about my colours,'_ he thought, as he ran home through the still empty corridors.

Lowering himself onto the floor in the living room just in front of the entrance door, Harry addressed his grandmother. "Ceridwen, can you tell me more about the colours? Are you able to see my colours?" he asked in excitement.

Ceridwen chuckled. "What have you found out about the colours so far?" she returned the question.

Harry thought for a moment, before he replied, "I think that green must be magic, although it's different from the other colours. It's just like a ring around them. Then maybe pink could be a Squib and yellow an Animagus," he added, questioningly.

"Wonderful," Ceridwen commended him. "The colours are very important, as you can probably imagine, and as a soul phoenix we're not only able to see them but even to manipulate them to a certain extent."

"Manipulate them?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Ceridwen explained. "I'm not only a healer like my mother and sister, but I'm also a mind healer. For example, people who suffer from sadness have a dark purple aura, and by talking to them and directly wishing their purple aura to vanish, you can help them to become happier. A soul phoenix Animagus is predestined to be a mind healer. Now," she continued, and Harry looked at her in expectation, "your colours are green, brown and a twinkling white laced by a thin, golden line. Brown because you're a werewolf. White means purity and gold power. You're powerful even for your age, pure of course, and the twinkle means absoluteness. I suppose that the gold will expand as you grow up. You will definitely be able to become a soul phoenix, Harry."

"How?" Harry asked, eagerly.

"First of all, you must learn everything about soul phoenixes," Ceridwen instructed him. "I can tell you everything that I know, and I hope that Animogli will come and support you. He was my familiar, but ever since then he's been living in phoenix land. If he gets to know that you're a soul phoenix Animagus, I'm almost certain that he'll come and bond with you. He's the only known soul phoenix, just like I was the only soul phoenix Animagus so far. I'm very happy that you seem to be following in my footsteps."

"Animogli must be the one who gave the feather for my wand then," Harry blurted out in amazement.

"Sure," Ceridwen confirmed, smiling.

HP

By the time Harry entered the Potions Master's office first thing on Saturday morning, he was well prepared. He had spoken with Ceridwen about her Animagus form for hours, and he was carrying the small photo frame with his grandmother in her soul phoenix form in his robe pocket.

"All right Harry, first of all, you won't be able to manage the Animagus transformation in a few days or weeks," Severus began to explain. "It'll probably take years. Moreover, you must not practise alone. Only when I or one of my colleagues are with you. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir," Harry agreed. Ceridwen had already told him the same.

"Anyway, in order to be able to transform, you must keep the image of the soul phoenix clear in your mind and try to change your left hand into your left wing. That's the first and at the same time the most difficult step of the whole transformation. Only if you achieve that, you can try changing your complete left arm, then the right and so on."

"All right sir," Harry confirmed that he had understood and, looking at Ceridwen in her Animagus form concentrated on his left hand – however, to no avail. When Severus told him after ten minutes of trying that Harry should stop and they'd head into the potions lab, he had not achieved anything.

"Harry, don't be frustrated. Remember that I told you it would probably take years," Severus said in a soft voice.

"Yes sir. I know that," Harry replied, trying to push the upcoming disappointment to the back of his mind. "What are we going to brew today, sir?" he asked, smiling as he followed the Potions Master into the lab.

HP

During the following months, Harry practised every evening in Remus' company, once Dudley had returned to his room. Remus only allowed him to try changing his left hand for ten minutes, before he sent him to bed.

To Harry's chagrin, by the end of the school year, he had not managed to spike as much as one feather.

"This is really frustrating," he blurted out one evening, glancing at Ceridwen in her portrait.

Ceridwen chuckled. "Oh Harry, believe me, it took me ages to transform. I was about the same age as you when I tried first, and I only managed the transformation at eleven, shortly before becoming a first-year. So you still have much time and no reason to be frustrated," she explained in her usual soft voice.

"Yes granny, good night," Harry replied, sighing, as he went to ready himself for the night.

HP

Like during the previous summer, all teachers took turns making Harry, Dudley and Neville assist with their preparations for their own classes during the first half of the summer. During the second half, Harry spent the mornings in the potions lab, Dudley with Professor Babbling and Neville, who still came to Hogwarts on a daily basis in spite of not having classes, assisted Professor Sprout in the greenhouses.

In the afternoons, the teachers once more took turns taking them to interesting places. To the children's surprise, Severus and Petunia often spent the afternoons together with them, just like Professor Trelawney and Remus.

"I wonder if they like each other," Neville said to his friends, when the three seven-year-olds once spent an afternoon at Hogwarts, roaming the castle.

"That would be cool," Dudley replied, thoughtfully. "I think Mum seems much happier here now than when we first came here."

"Definitely," Harry agreed. "Maybe Severus helped her a lot. He once told me that he was good friends with Mum and Aunt Petunia before he and Mum came to Hogwarts. They've known each other since they were very small."

"Sybill is very nice, too," Dudley said, pensively.

"Although her classes seem to be complete rubbish," Neville added, grinning, as he reminded the others of a conversation about the Divination class that had taken place at the Slytherin table a few months ago.

"Oh well, making up a new dream every week doesn't seem very thrilling," Dudley spoke up, rolling his eyes. "I don't think I'm going to take Divination at all."

Harry and Neville immediately agreed, deciding that there were more interesting classes at Hogwarts.

HP

When their usual class began again in the morning of the first of September, Harry asked Remus, "May Dudley, Neville and I tomorrow morning accompany the first-years to their classrooms before coming here? I think they must be terrified having to search their classroom in this big castle."

"That's a good idea, Harry," Remus replied, warmly. "You'll have to accompany the Gryffindor and Slytherin first years to one classroom and the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws to another though."

"That's fine," Harry said, smiling. "Dudley and Neville can take one group, and I'll do the other."

"We take the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws then," Dudley agreed.

HP

Harry and Dudley decided to sit at the Gryffindor table for the Welcoming feast. Neville had not been allowed to stay for the feast, however, the two seven-year-olds sat between Charlie, who was now a fourth-year, and the empty spots where the first-years would join them after the Sorting.

"Harry, keep the seat next to you for my brother Percy, will you," Charlie whispered to him. "He's going to be sorted tonight."

"All right," Harry whispered back, smiling in anticipation. _'I hope his brother is as nice as Charlie and Bill,'_ he thought, as he observed the Sorting with interest.

As Charlie had almost predicted, his younger brother Percy was sorted into Gryffindor and sat into the empty seat next to Harry.

Harry's first impression was that the boy had strange auras. It almost was as if there were two persons, one green and white and the other green, yellow and black. _'What?'_ he thought, incredulously. _'How's that possible?'_

"Percy," he spoke up, hesitantly, "are you an Animagus?"

The older boy cast him a confused look. "No," he finally replied, "why would I?"

Not wanting to let anyone know that he could see auras, Harry merely shrugged. "I just thought so. I'm sorry."

"Is there a way to know if someone is an Animagus?" Charlie asked in apparent confusion.

"Harry knows," Dudley spoke up, causing Harry to frown.

"Shhh, I don't want everyone to know that," he whispered. "It's true though," he added in Charlie's direction.

HP

By the time Remus and Harry returned to their rooms, it was already late and Harry was sent to bed. As much as he begged to be allowed to quickly discuss something with Ceridwen, Remus remained firm and told him that tomorrow would be another day.

First thing in the morning, Harry was standing in front of Ceridwen's portrait and told her, "Last night, a boy with two auras was sitting next to me. One was green and white and the other green, yellow and black. How's that possible?"

"It's not possible," Ceridwen replied in clear surprise.

"But it was like it," Harry insisted, only now realising that Remus was standing next to him. "Good morning Remus," he quickly greeted his guardian. "Remus, it was Percy Weasley. He had two auras."

"The only reason that I can imagine would be that he was carrying his familiar with him, for example, in his robe pocket," Ceridwen said, pensively.

"But then his familiar had to be an Animagus, considering that he told me that he isn't one," Harry replied in confusion.

"Who would bring an Animagus with him to Hogwarts?" Remus asked, smirking at Harry. "Harry, I'm sorry, but I think that your mind just played a prank on you here. It's simply not possible."

HP

 _'_ _But I know what I saw,'_ Harry thought, feeling very upset, as he trailed to the Great Hall behind Remus, taking a seat at the Slytherin table to be as far away as possible from the strange Gryffindor boy.

During the following months, Harry sometimes came close enough to Percy, either in the halls or at the Gryffindor table, to check the boy's aura again, but it always was solely green and white, without any second aura involving yellow and black. ' _Strange. Must have been my imagination,'_ he thought against better knowledge.

HP

Very early one morning, Severus stepped out into the corridor with the entrances to the teachers' quarters. Stopping in front of Remus' and Harry's door, he cast a Silencing charm around himself and the portrait of Ceridwen Hufflepuff.

"Good morning, Professor Hufflepuff," he addressed the portrait.

"Good morning, Professor Snape, what can I do for you?" Ceridwen asked, gently.

"I just have a question," Severus said and asked, slightly hesitating, "If I understand correctly what Harry told me, I wonder if he might be able to cure werewolves and perhaps also people who are suffering from mental illnesses, once he manages the complete transformation into a soul phoenix."

Ceridwen smiled. "The soul phoenix is the most helpful of all kinds of phoenixes," she replied, pride swinging in her voice. "Eventually, Harry might be able to heal these persons, but he is very young and he first of all has to manage the transformation. Afterwards, he has to practise tampering with auras, which is especially difficult, as he can't simply practise on other students or teachers."

"Of course," Severus agreed, pensively.

"Unfortunately, I'm only able to cast magic within portraits," Ceridwen said, regrettably. "Therefore, I can only advise him what to do and how to do it. Well, he might be able to cure Remus and Dudley, provided that he decides to become a mind healer, but it will take many years."

"Thank you Professor," Severus acknowledged her response. "Is it correct to assume that he won't be able to heal himself the same way?"

"No, he might be able to find other ways for himself, but I'm not sure, as whilst being a soul phoenix Animagus, I am not a werewolf," Ceridwen informed him in a soft voice.

"Of course Professor. Thank you very much for your insight," Severus agreed and took his leave, cancelling the silencing charm as he went.

HP

It was shortly before the end of the school year, when Gryffindor won a Quidditch match and invited Harry and Dudley to their victory party, that Harry noticed a rat in the Gryffindor common room. It was stretched out in a corner of the room, right next to the sofa, where Harry and Dudley were sitting together with Charlie.

"Look, a rat," Harry whispered with bewilderment. _'I've heard of students having owls, cats or toads, but a rat?'_ he thought, feeling slightly appalled, as he observed the small animal devour some cheese.

"Ah yes, it's Percy's," Charlie explained. "I find it disgusting, but Percy is quite fond of it, so better say nothing," he added, smirking.

"True," Dudley agreed.

 _'_ _Oh well,'_ Harry thought, however, his eyes widened in shock upon sensing the rat's aura. It was yellow, green and black.

"That's not a rat. It's an Animagus," he whispered, causing Charlie to laugh.

"It's just an ordinary garden rat," the older boy replied, chuckling.

 _'_ _It's not,'_ Harry thought _. 'It's magical, and I think it's an Animagus, not a real rat.'_ However, he knew better than to voice his thoughts, knowing that he wouldn't be believed anyway.

Suddenly, Charlie rose from the sofa and dragged the two seven-year-olds to the buffet that the house-elves had prepared. "Come and have a butterbeer. It doesn't have alcohol, so it's suited for children of your age as well."

HP

"Dudley," Harry hesitantly spoke up, when they returned to their rooms on time for their bedtime, "do you believe me that the rat is not only a magical rat but also an Animagus? I know that no one else will believe me, but…"

"I believe you," Dudley interrupted him. "But there's nothing that we can do about it, if the students don't believe you, let alone the adults. It's a strange rat anyway," he added. "Did you notice that it's missing a toe?"

"No, I didn't see that," Harry replied, surprised. "Apparently, I was too wrapped up with its aura to realise anything else."

"Oh well, I like the Hufflepuff common room better anyway," Dudley voiced what Harry was thinking, too.

"Yeah, most students are nice there, while some in Gryffindor are really strange, just like in Slytherin," Harry agreed. _'Although Percy and his rat are the strangest,'_ he thought just to himself and finally realised, _'That explains why Percy had two auras at the welcoming feast last year. He was probably carrying his rat in his robe pocket.'_

HP

One evening, when the four younger teachers gathered in Remus' and Harry's living room, as they did every evening during the holidays, Remus suggested, "Why don't we take the three children to the beach once, maybe even overnight?"

"That's a brilliant idea," Petunia immediately agreed, and after a short discussion, they planned a trip to a magical beach resort in the North of Scotland for Neville's and Harry's birthday.

They politely invited Augusta Longbottom to join them, however, the old lady declined, stating that she was happy to know that Neville was in good hands with them.

During the days leading up to Neville's and Harry's eighth birthdays, the children were so excited that Severus groaned one day at breakfast, "Why exactly did we decide to do such a thing?"

"Because you love us so much and want to make us happy, Severus," Harry replied, causing the older teachers to laugh at the Potions Master.

"Severus has really changed for the better," Minerva whispered to Poppy, not realising that the children's hearing was extremely good.

However, Severus still managed to shock them all, when he appeared in the Great Hall for breakfast on Neville's birthday, wearing dark green robes instead of his constant black attire.

"Severus, are you ill?" Poppy blurted out, smirking.

However, Severus completely ignored her. Instead, he handed Neville a small present, which from the form looked like a book, and finally turned to Petunia. "I'm ready to leave right after breakfast."

"We're ready, too," Petunia confirmed, causing Remus and Sybill to follow.

 _'_ _He looks great in his green robes,'_ Harry thought, as he glanced around taking in the other teachers' stunned expressions with amusement.

HP

The magical resort was amazing. First of all, it was charmed to be of an agreeable temperature, so that most people spent their time on the beach and in the sea that also held a most comfortable water temperature, the apartment was large with a living room and three bedrooms, one for the two male professors, one for the ladies and one for the children, and the meals were taken in a large dining room, half of which was outside and situated right on the shore. Behind the building was a Quidditch pitch that rivalled the one at Hogwarts, and the children were glad that they had brought their brooms, especially Neville, who had only received his own broom for his birthday this very morning.

"It's even better than the one at Hogwarts," Dudley said, pointing out that half of the Quidditch pitch was situated above the sea.

There were several students in the resort, and the children soon got two Quidditch teams together. To everyone's surprise, Martin, who was a seventh year and the Seeker of the Ravenclaw house team and played Seeker for the one team, while Harry played for the other team, did not manage even once to beat Harry to the Snitch.

"Congrats," Martin said to him, once they stopped playing to head to lunch. "You're an amazing Seeker, and I'm sure that you're going to end up on a house team." Turning to Dudley, who had played Keeper, he said, "The same goes for you. You're a brilliant Keeper."

Knowing that the older boy had been on the Quidditch team for several years, his words meant a lot to the two boys. They knew most of the students in the resort; there were only two girls, whom they had not met before.

"They're probably too young to be at Hogwarts," Neville whispered to Harry and Dudley.

"Yeah, they seem more like our age," Harry replied and headed over to the girls, closely followed by Dudley and Neville.

"Hi," he said, shyly, and introduced the three of them.

"Hello," one of the girls replied. "I'm Su. Su Li, and this is Lily Moon. We're both eight and not so good on brooms yet, but you're very good flyers."

Feeling excited and happy to have met girls of their own age, Harry, Dudley and Neville proceeded to spend the rest of the day with them and even invited them to come and eat Neville's birthday cake together.

 _'_ _They're really nice,'_ Harry thought, unobtrusively observing the girls. While Su was relatively tall for her age and had black hair and black eyes, Lily was of about Harry's size and was blonde with an eye colour of a combination of silver and blue. _'She's very pretty,'_ he thought, noticing that both girls had a white aura with the usual green frame for magic.

During the rest of the two days, Harry, Neville, Dudley and the two girls stuck together and spent much time flying, swimming and building a miniature version of Hogwarts in the sand – with Remus' and Sybill's help.

After the boys had told the girls that they were living at Hogwarts, because their guardians were working there and that Neville was attending classes with them, Su introduced herself as a half-blood witch. She told them that while her father was a muggle and was teaching Chinese at a university in London, her mother and grandfather were magical and had a small Chinese restaurant in a side street to Diagon Alley.

"I've never seen a Chinese restaurant anywhere at Diagon Alley," Harry spoke up in surprise, causing Dudley and Neville to nod.

"If you pass in front of Gringotts and then turn left, it's on the right hand side," Su informed them and invited them to visit her if they had a chance to get to Diagon Alley.

Lily was a pureblood witch, and her father was working at the Ministry of Magic, while her mother stayed at home to watch her and her smaller sister Susan.

"I'd prefer to attend classes at Hogwarts to being home-schooled," she said, longingly. "It's boring to always have to study alone."

"Maybe you can attend classes together with us," Harry said, thoughtfully, and promised to ask Remus later on.

HP

It was much later on the same day, when the overexcited children had finally fallen asleep, that Severus went out for a long walk along the shore together with Petunia.

"You seem much happier than when you first came to Hogwarts," Severus stated the obvious in a soft voice.

Petunia smiled. "I am indeed much happier than I can recall having ever been before," she admitted only to add, "which is mainly thanks to you, Severus."

Severus quirked an eyebrow, before they walked on in silence for a few minutes. "I loved Lily," he suddenly spoke up, "and I couldn't imagine being capable of loving anyone else anymore. Things have changed though," he added and stopped walking, before he turned to Petunia. His face came to rest just in front of hers, and he carefully pulled her into a hesitant kiss, feeling as if he was flying without broom when she responded to it.

"Let's sit here for a moment," he said, once they parted, and they sat on a bench, from where they could watch the sunset. "I love you, Petunia," he told her in his soft, baritone voice. "Will you give me the honour to become my wife?"

Petunia looked up to meet his eyes, smiling. "I will," she promised. "I love you, too. More than I ever loved Vernon."

HP

It was beyond midnight, when Severus returned to the room that he shared with Remus.

"How was your date?" the werewolf enquired, smiling at his former classmate's genuinely happy expression.

"Petunia agreed to become my wife," Severus informed him, only to ask, "And how was yours?"

Remus let out a deep sigh. "It was wonderful. I think I'm completely in love with Sybill. But it's not possible."

"And why not?" Severus enquired, raising an eyebrow in clear surprise.

"Because of my furry problem," Remus said, darkly. "It's all right. Good night Severus."

"No Remus, wait," Severus replied, reaching for Remus' arm to stop him. "This is nonsense. If Sybill cared about your furry problem, the two of you wouldn't have come so close. Apparently, she doesn't mind at all, and there is no information if any children of yours would carry the lycanthropy. Moreover, if they did, you'd be able to deal with it. Use the magic of the resort to ask her first thing in the morning."

"No child should have to bother with that disease," Remus contradicted. "It's too horrible."

Severus scoffed. "Do you have the impression as if Harry and Dudley weren't outright happy with their lives?"

"They are," Remus had to admit. "What if she doesn't agree though? We still have to see each other at Hogwarts every day."

"No," Severus replied, smirking. "She wouldn't attend all the meals anymore. Only Christmas dinner and even that only on Albus' request. Ask her. I'll excuse you from breakfast."

Shaking his head in annoyance, Remus noxed the lights and went to bed, his thoughts revolving around the witch of his heart.


	5. Chapter 5

**Soul Phoenix**  
 **by Healer Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. Rating M for multiple character deaths throughout this story.**

 _It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.  
_ _Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind feedback on the previous chapter!_

* * *

In the morning, Su, Lily and their families joined the Hogwarts group for breakfast. Harry felt extremely happy at their company, even if he would have wanted to crawl into a mouse hole, when everyone sang the birthday song for him.

"Excuse me, Mr. Lupin," Lily's mother suddenly spoke up. "Apparently, your children told mine that you're having something like a primary school class at Hogwarts. Would it be possible for my daughter to attend your class as well?"

"We'd be very interested as well," Su's mother added, looking at Remus with apparent curiosity.

Remus let out a long sigh. "I'm afraid that I can't promise anything," he then replied. "I'll have to discuss the matter with our headmaster."

"I hope Professor Dumbledore will agree," Harry blurted out. "It would be cool to have our class together with Lily and Su. Remus is an amazing teacher," he added, looking at the girls.

"To what am I supposed to agree?" the headmaster's voice suddenly penetrated Harry's ears, and everyone looked up, when Dumbledore approached their table together with Professor McGonagall.

"We only came to wish Harry a happy birthday," McGonagall said, smiling, as she pulled Harry into a gentle hug.

"Thank you, Professors," Harry replied, happily. "May Lily and Su attend our class with us?" he then came straight to the point.

"Well, I believe that we could discuss this, while we have some more tea and the children go and play," Severus suggested, giving Harry a pointed look.

"Shall we play Quidditch?" Harry asked, and the children rose from their chairs and dashed away in excitement.

HP

The morning passed in a blur, and when everyone gathered again for lunch, they were told that Lily and Su would join their class from September onwards.

"That's totally cool," Harry commented.

"Yes, it is. May we go?" Dudley added, quickly taking a few bites of his meal.

"Please, we want to spend as much time with the girls as possible," Neville joined the plead, causing the adults to laugh.

"You may," Remus said, grinning.

"We need one more girl for our class, so that we're three boys and three girls," Dudley spoke up, when they returned to their rooms in the evening to grab their bags and ready themselves for the Portkey that was going to take them back to Hogwarts.

"Yes, that's true," Harry and Neville agreed, eagerly.

HP

It was on one of the last days before the beginning of the new school year that Remus and Sybill took Harry, Dudley and Neville to the British Museum.

At first, the children tagged behind the adults, however, when Remus and Sybill proceeded much too slow for they liking, the children finally went ahead until they reached a room that interested them much more.

"Oh wow, Dudley, look here, this looks like the painting that's in the living room of the founders' quarters opposite of their portrait," Harry shouted, staring at a medieval painting in amazement.

"This is beautiful, isn't it?" a girl suddenly spoke up, as she came to stand next to Harry. "I love the medieval paintings."

Harry and Dudley stared at the girl in surprise, and Harry noticed that her aura was white and green.

"Hi, I'm sorry, I'm Hermione," she introduced herself, apparently noticing their surprised look.

"Oh hello Hermione, we're Dudley and Harry," Dudley replied.

"Are you here just by yourself?" Harry enquired.

"No, my parents are still in the other room, but I went ahead, because I'm much more interested in older paintings than in modern art."

"Have you heard of Hogwarts?" Harry asked, eagerly, when the three children continued through the room. "It's full of old paintings and such."

"Hogwarts?" the girl asked in clear surprise. "What is it? I've never heard of it."

"Harry, you can't speak about Hogwarts to muggles," Dudley hissed at his cousin.

"Dudley, Hermione isn't a muggle, she's a witch," Harry replied, causing Hermione to glare at him.

"I'm not a bitch," she spoke up, sounding very upset.

"No Mione, a witch, not a bitch," Harry replied in a soft voice.

"Oh that's all right then," Dudley replied.

"A witch?" Hermione asked, incredulously.

"Yes," Dudley replied, matter-of-factly. "You can do magic, can't you?"

"Have you never done something freaky?" Harry added, giving the girl a piercing look.

Hermione blushed. "Oh well, yes, sometimes I happen to do strange things," she admitted, only to ask in disbelief, "That means that I'm a witch?"

"Yes," Dudley replied, smiling. "And when you're eleven, you can attend Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn magic. Hogwarts is an old castle. It's absolutely cool."

"I'd love that," Hermione said, her eyes widening as realisation set in. "I'm not a freak like everyone tells me. I'm a witch. That's too great. Thanks so much for telling me," she said, seemingly grateful. "Will you come with me and tell my parents? I don't know if they'll believe me otherwise," she then added in a small voice.

"Of course," Dudley said, gently. "We only have to wait for either your parents or our teacher to catch up with us."

Hermione's parents were the first to reach the three excited children, while Remus and Sybill just showed up on time to hear Hermione excitedly tell her parents that she was a witch.

"Harry, Dudley, you mustn't tell children that they're witches and wizards," Remus scolded the children in a small voice.

"It's true though," Dudley replied, matter-of-factly. "Harry could see it."

"And I'm very happy that they told me," Hermione insisted.

"Maybe we could go somewhere quiet, and you could tell us a bit more about the matter over a cup of tea," Mr. Granger suggested, and Remus had just agreed, when Sybill spoke up in a strange voice.

 _"_ _The one with the power to get rid of the dark has gathered his minions. Together they will set the grounds to vanquish the evil and conquer the bigots. The Ministry of Magic must beware, the changeling has founded his support."_

Finding everyone stare at her, Sybill asked, "Excuse me, did something happen?"

"I believe that you just made a prophecy, love," Remus said, glancing at the children, before he motioned the whole group towards the tea shop within the museum.

HP

During the following hours until the closing time of the museum, Remus and Sybill told Emma and Dan Granger everything about the magical world, while Harry and Dudley informed Hermione about Hogwarts, classes, ghosts and house-elves, before they begged Remus and Hermione's parents to allow the girl to attend their class together with them.

Before everyone returned to their respective homes, Remus agreed with the Grangers that he would pick them up and bring them to visit Hogwarts the following morning.

"Thank you, Remus. That's too cool," Harry said, when they walked up to the castle from the apparition point.

"Yes, we really like Hermione, and we were missing one girl for our class anyway," Dudley added, grinning broadly.

"That may be as it is," Remus replied, patiently, "but still, you must not tell anyone that he or she is magical, even if Harry is absolutely certain about it. Do you understand me?" he asked in a stern voice.

"Yes sir," Harry replied. "I won't do it again."

"That's all I can ask for," Remus said, gently. "Now run and wash your hands. Dinner has already begun."

HP

When Remus brought the Grangers to Hogwarts on the following day, Harry and Dudley showed the girl Hogwarts. To their chagrin, Neville was sick and could not visit them, just like on the previous day.

"I can't thank you enough for making me part of the magical world," Hermione said, gratefully, when they returned to Harry's room after two hours of exploring the old castle including the Astronomy tower, the library, the Potions classroom with its interesting ingredients cupboard as well as the founders' quarters, where they introduced Hermione to the founders.

'Strange that they let Hermione in,' Harry thought, when they reached his room. 'Dudley is a member of the Hufflepuff family, but Hermione isn't.'

"Harry, may I borrow some of your books?" Hermione asked with apparent excitement.

"Of course," Harry replied, smiling.

"We can recommend the series of _The Five Magical Friends_ ," Dudley advised the girl. "Harry and I love their books."

Finally, Hermione borrowed _Hogwarts: A History_ along with the first two volumes of _The Five Magical Friends_ and returned home, carefully clutching the books to her chest as she stepped into the fireplace.

HP

Even more so than in the previous years, Harry, Dudley and Neville eagerly awaited the first of September, when their class with Remus was going to begin again.

Professor Dumbledore had supported Remus in order to enlarge the primary school class and had equipped a fireplace to their classroom, so that the three girls and also Neville would be able to floo straight to the classroom. He had also explained the matter to the Grangers and connected their original muggle fireplace to the Floo Network, however, restricted the connection for safety reasons, so that Floo travel was only possible either to the children's classroom or to his own office.

While Hermione and Su, who had visited muggle primary schools so far, were slightly ahead in muggle knowledge, however, did not know much about the magical world, Lily was at about the same level as the three boys. After their afternoon class on the first day, when Lily and Neville returned home, Remus, Dudley and Harry accompanied Su and Hermione to the Quadruple Circle to buy children brooms for the two girls.

"My broom was the best that ever happened to me," Neville said, happily eyeing his wand, while Hermione and Su eagerly tried the wands that they were offered.

 _'_ _They're lucky,'_ Harry thought, when each of the girls had found a wand that matched them. 'Why am I the only one who's always different?'

HP

While Harry had always enjoyed his classes with Remus, now that the three girls had joined them, it was even much more fun. Just like Neville and his grandmother, the girls and their families had been informed by Professor Dumbledore that there would be no classes on the day after the full moon and why, and the headmaster had placed them under a charm that would disable them to speak about the matter to anyone.

 _'_ _I wished we could improve the Wolfsbane potion a bit to lessen the after-effects of the transformation,'_ Harry thought over and over during the days after the full moon, when he was recovering from his ordeal in the hospital wing.

Now that they were six students in their class, Harry did not want and was not encouraged either to miss the last class every day in favour of studying Potions. Instead, he decided to spend the hour between the end of classes and dinner in the Potions classroom.

"Severus," he hesitantly spoke up one day shortly before the Christmas holidays. "Could we perhaps try to do some research in order to possibly improve the Wolfsbane potion? It's not only that I'd like to attend classes right after the full moon, but I think the others are also disappointed that Remus can't teach them on these days. Plus, I don't want to miss my Hogwarts classes on a regular basis. I know that it's still three years until then, but still." He trailed off, giving the Potions Master a pleading look.

"Of course Harry, we can try to improve the Wolfsbane," Severus replied, pensively. "I can't promise you anything though. Over the last thousand years, many Potions Masters have tried to develop a cure for lycanthropy, however, without the slightest success. The Wolfsbane itself is already a huge improvement, but I'm willing to search for a superior version."

They decided to not tell Remus and Dudley about the matter, so that they would not get their hopes up, unless there was an improved potion to test. However, Severus made it clear from the beginning that if there was a new potion to test, Harry would not be the one to try it out but Remus would have to test it. Harry grudgingly agreed, knowing that Remus was not only an adult but also had much more experience with lycanthropy.

From that time onwards, Severus and Harry engrossed themselves in their research every free minute, and by the end of the school year, Severus offered Remus a new version of the Wolfsbane to try.

For the first full moon after Remus had taken the what could be hoped to be an improved version of the Wolfsbane, Severus had instructed the elves to make a second safe room.

"Thank you so much, Severus," Remus said, gratefully. "I wouldn't want to endanger the children if the potion did not work at all."

Severus merely nodded, knowing that the potion still was not what Harry and he was hoping for, however, hoped that it would be at least an improvement.

HP

On the first of September, the two now nine-year-olds gained two new friends. After dining at the three other house tables during the last three welcoming feasts, including those after the Christmas holidays, Harry and Dudley once again observed the Sorting ceremony from the Gryffindor table. Sixth-year prefect Charlie Weasley was sitting on Dudley's left side, while Harry's right side was empty.

"Harry, please keep two seats tonight. My twin brothers are going to be sorted," Charlie told him, when Professor McGonagall led the new first-years into the Great Hall.

"Of course," Harry promised, hoping that the twins were nicer and not as strange as Percy. _'Percy is a bit arrogant, and I really don't like his rat,'_ he thought, as he absentmindedly observed the Sorting.

As could be expected, Fred and George Weasley became sorted into Gryffindor. Harry almost sighed in relief upon noticing that Fred's aura was just green and white. _'Thank Merlin,'_ he thought. _'His twin's will surely be the same.'_

Somehow, the twins and Harry and Dudley immediately liked each other, and while the younger wizards showed the twins to the interesting spots at Hogwarts during the next few evenings, they quickly became friends.

HP

One Saturday afternoon, Harry and Dudley visited the twins in the Gryffindor common room, which they had avoided during the last school year except for Quidditch victory parties, because of the strange rat that was residing there.

Together with the twins, Harry and Dudley sat on two comfortable sofas near the fireplace in the otherwise fairly empty common room, as everyone from third year onwards had gone to Hogsmeade.

Unfortunately, the rat was stretched out in front of the fireplace, and Harry eyed it in disgust, before a sudden idea struck his mind that he was unable to get rid of. _'Perhaps I can practise manipulating auras,'_ he thought, knowing that the strange rat would be the best test object that he was ever going to find.

Harry concentrated on the rat's aura, which was still yellow and black with the usual green frame for magic.

 _'_ _Maybe I can try to remove the Animagus yellow,'_ he thought. At first, he had assumed that all animals showed some yellow colour, as it seemed absurd to believe that a rat would be an Animagus. However, Hagrid had introduced him to several kinds of magical animals, and none of them held a yellow aura. They were all white or grey with a green frame.

Summoning his wish magic, he concentrated on the yellow colour in the rat's aura and wished to completely vanish it, only letting go when he felt his own magic to drain. Feeling somehow exhausted, he realised that the rat's colours had not changed at all. _'I need some more attempts,'_ he thought, feeling somehow disappointed. _'Maybe I should ask my friends if anyone has an idea. I can't even explain why I want to harm that stupid rat though. It's just a really bad feeling,'_ he mused.

HP

One day, when the six children were spending the hour between lunch and the afternoon classes in Harry's room, Harry hesitantly spoke to them about the matter. He explained about the colours, about which so far only Dudley knew, and that he wanted to use the rat as test object to try changing auras.

"You better try something else with that rat," Hermione advised him. "If he really is an Animagus, he must be in his Animagus form now."

"Maybe you better try to change his green magic to pink," Lily added. "That was a Squib's colour, wasn't it?"

"Yes, pink," Harry confirmed. "That sounds like a good plan. Thank you, Hermione and Lily," he said, gratefully, resolved to spend some time in the Gryffindor common room at the next opportunity.

"Be careful that no one catches you doing what you're attempting to do," Su spoke up, giving him a concerned look.

"Don't worry, no one will know," Harry replied, smiling.

HP

Harry's and Severus' newest version of the Wolfsbane potion helped keeping the magical fatigue from the transformation at bay. The werewolves were still suffering from enormous pain and felt extremely tired after the transformation, however, their magic recovered much faster, and Poppy grudgingly agreed that Remus and the two boys could spend the day in their own rooms under the condition that they would come by the hospital wing to let her check on them on their way to the Great Hall for dinner.

It was on the day after the November full moon that Harry decided to make a short excursion to Gryffindor. _'Everyone is in class, so I should be able to catch the rat alone,'_ he thought, before he turned invisible and popped right into the Gryffindor common room. However, the rat was nowhere to be seen. _'Maybe in Percy's dormitory,'_ Harry thought and quickly popped into the third-year boys' dormitory. Traipsing through the room, trying to not make any sound, he looked out for the rat, almost letting out a shriek of surprise, when he found it fast asleep on a pillow.

Still not feeling overly well, he let himself sink onto the edge of the opposite bed and concentrated on the rat's aura, which remained exactly the same as the last time. _'All right then, I want to replace the green with pink,'_ he thought and used his wish magic to try exchanging the colours. He just caught himself on the verge of passing out from using too much magic, however, when he checked the rat's aura again, the green framing the yellow and black had become much lighter, and Harry had the impression as if he could see faint pink spots within the green frame.

 _'_ _I think this works, but it wasn't enough,'_ he thought. _'I need to come again and repeat it.'_ Feeling too exhausted to pop himself back home, he descended to the common room and walked home, glad that it did not afford much magic to remain invisible, at least not with the elves' method.

HP

Unfortunately, when Remus, Harry and Dudley went to Poppy to have her check on them before dinner like they had promised, the healer cast him a stern look.

"Harry, can you explain what you did to completely deplete your magic and that on the day after the full moon of all days?" she asked, strictly, glaring at him.

"I'm sorry," Harry replied, horrified. "I tried something using wish magic," he explained, trying to fight back the tears that spread in his eyes at the healer's strict voice.

"Well, no magic for at least a week, and after a week I wish to see you again," Poppy told him in a no-nonsense voice.

"Yes Aunt Poppy," he said in a barely audible voice, glad that he was only not allowed to do magic but not grounded or forbidden to assist Severus, something that would have been a much worse punishment.

HP

When Harry was finally allowed to do magic again, he decided to concentrate on his practice of the Animagus transformation before trying to manipulate the rat's aura again, and by the beginning of the Christmas holidays, he managed to change his complete left arm into a beautiful golden wing.

"Congratulations Harry," Severus commented him, smiling. "This is a huge step, and now the rest of the transformation will be much easier. Try to change your right arm next."

"Yes," Harry replied, feeling extremely happy at his achievement. However, to his slight disappointment, his right hand did not show the slightest bit of a feather when he tried.

"Patient," Severus reminded him, smirking. "Now shall we go and grace the others with our presence, so you can show off your beautiful wing?"

"I don't want to show off," Harry replied, shaking his head in annoyance.

However, seeing that the Weasley twins were the only students who had remained at Hogwarts during the holidays, the Potions Master convinced Harry to show everyone his achievement.

"Gorgeous!"

"Amazing!"

"Beautiful!" Harry heard, once he transformed his left arm into his phoenix form.

Feeling very happy at his success, Harry intensified his practice, and just six months after he had first been able to transform his left arm, he managed the complete transformation.

It was on the day after the students had gone home for the summer holidays. Harry and Dudley had accompanied the Weasley twins to the station and then spent the afternoon in Harry's room. While Dudley busied himself with an Ancient Runes assignment that he had received from Professor Babbling, Harry tried to transform into his soul phoenix form. He was already able to change most of his body, however, to his chagrin, his head remained human.

All of a sudden, however, he felt a strange sensation and realised that his vision widened immensely. _'I did it,'_ he thought in excitement. _'I'm complete. I'm a soul phoenix.'_ He glanced down at his golden plumage and felt extremely happy.

#Dudley, I did it,# he trilled, eagerly, in his excitement forgetting that his cousin was not able to understand his trills.

However, the sudden melody was enough for Dudley to turn his head and stare at the beautiful phoenix in apparent amazement.

"Wow, you did it, Harry. That's too cool," he blurted out.

#Yes!# Harry trilled, happily, and did some unsteady steps on his bird feet, only to stumble after every second step. _'Oh well, I'll have to learn to walk, fly and flash,'_ he thought. _'I must show Ceridwen,'_ he decided and, struggling and stumbling, made his way out into the living room.

"Harry! Congratulations!" Ceridwen said, seemingly delighted at his achievement. "Let me call Fawkes," she added. "He'll be able to help you with flying and flashing." With that she transformed into her own soul phoenix form and vanished from the portrait, only to return an instant later, at the same time as Fawkes flashed into the room.

#Goldie, grab my tail feathers,# he instructed the younger phoenix.

#Goldie?# Harry enquired, pointing out that he was not only golden but also had a white head crown and white tail feathers.

#Never mind, hold on tightly,# Fawkes ordered him, and when Harry complied, feeling slightly uncertain, he flashed away, leaving Ceridwen to wonder where he was going to take her great grandson.

HP

While everyone at Hogwarts were wondering about the whereabouts of Harry and Fawkes, the two phoenixes arrived in what seemed to be an infinite garden with grass, trees, flowers and many phoenixes as well as insects flying around the flowers.

#This is Phoenix Land,# Fawkes informed his young friend. #I believe that it's the best place for you to get used to your phoenix form and learn walking, flying and flashing.#

 _'_ _Oh, that's true,'_ Harry realised, as he did some unsteady steps in the grass. #Phoenix land is amazing,# he told his friend. #Thanks for bringing me here, Fawkes.#

Fawkes let out a sound close to a chuckle, before he replied, #You're most welcome, nestling.# As much as Fawkes used to play pranks at Hogwarts, sometimes even together with Peeves, as responsible he behaved towards the younger phoenix and took good care of him.

Harry had no idea how much time passed, as Fawkes' flying and flashing lessons were interrupted by naps, meals and playtime with the other phoenixes. However, he finally managed to behave like a real phoenix and felt most comfortable in his bird form. _'This is much better than flying on a broom,'_ he thought, happily, feeling very grateful towards the older phoenix.

#Now nestling,# Fawkes spoke up on day, #seeing that you managed everything that a proper phoenix needs to be able to do, shall we go and look for the obedient one?#

#For whom?# Harry asked in confusion.

Fawkes chuckled. #Animogli. He's boringly well-behaved and did never do any nonsense with me. Oh well, maybe now he will, but at least he did not when we were together at Hogwarts at Godric's and Ceridwen's time.#

#Yes!# Harry shouted in delight. #I'd love to get to know Animogli. He was Ceridwen's familiar, and he's the one who gave the feather for my wand,# he blurted out, happily. #Where can we find him, Fawkes?#

The older phoenix rolled his eyes in clear annoyance. #We'll just have to fly around and ask the other phoenixes if anyone has seen him. Phoenix land is quite big.#

#Fawkes, won't the others miss us at Hogwarts?# Harry suddenly remembered to ask, causing his friend to chuckle.

#It's about time that you think of them, nestling,# he replied, sounding slightly reproachful. #Albus will have told them that I took you with me to Phoenix Land. Now, are you going to search for the one with the stupid name?#

#All right,# Harry agreed, while his thoughts went haywire. _'I don't know how long we've been here, but I didn't even think about Hogwarts, my friends and family. Something must be strange about Phoenix Land if it makes me forget everything else.'_ He absentmindedly followed Fawkes, as the two phoenixes flew over Phoenix Land, questioning one or the other phoenix if they had seen the other soul phoenix.

While all phoenixes knew the only soul phoenix in Phoenix Land apart from Harry, no one was privy to his current whereabouts, and after days of flying, napping, eating, questioning other phoenixes and flying again, they still had not met Animogli.

#I'm sorry nestling, but we really have to return to Hogwarts now,# Fawkes suddenly said, causing Harry to gape at the older phoenix in disbelief.

#Why?# he asked, incredulously.

#Because the students are going to return tomorrow evening, and the old, grumpy one wants me to be back on the day before hell breaks out,# Fawkes replied, fluffing his feathers so as to show the younger phoenix his annoyance.

#What?# Harry asked in disbelief. #That's not possible. We've only been here what seems to be a week or such,# he trilled, giving Fawkes a questioning look.

Fawkes chuckled. #I know that time flies fast in Phoenix Land. Anyway, we need to return now. Just grab my tail feathers.#

Harry automatically obeyed, although his mind screamed, _'No! We haven't even found Animgoli yet.'_

HP

As sad as Harry felt, he became quickly distracted upon realising that his family and friends had prepared a birthday party for him in the Great Hall. Since the headmaster had assured everyone that Fawkes always returned of the thirty-first of August, Remus and Sybill had together with Petunia, Severus and Dudley organised a huge party and even invited Neville, Lily, Su, Hermione and the Weasley twins.

Only after being pulled into at least a dozen hugs from the people who had missed him over the last two months, Harry was able to let his eyes wander around the Great Hall, which had been changed into a huge playground.

"I'm sorry," he finally said. "I had no clue how fast time passed. I thought we'd just spent a week in Phoenix Land, when Fawkes told me that the holidays were already over."

"At least you must have had a wonderful time," Lily said, smiling.

"I think so, too," Remus agreed. "You look well, Harry."

"Thank you," Harry replied, noticing in annoyance that he felt himself blush.

Only when they returned to their quarters after dinner, Remus asked, curiously, "How did you spend the night of the full moon, Harry?"

"Full moon?" Harry repeated in surprise. "I don't know," he said, pensively.

"Did you not transform?" Remus enquired in disbelief.

"I think we didn't have a full moon in Phoenix Land," Harry explained, turning to his grandmother in the portrait.

"Ceridwen, do you know if there's the full moon in Phoenix Land?"

"I'm sorry, Harry, but I don't know that," Ceridwen replied, thoughtfully. "I'd assume that it would be the same as here, but I've only spent one summer in Phoenix Land and that was almost one thousand years ago. You'll have to ask Fawkes about that."

"I'm afraid that's going to have to wait until tomorrow, Harry," Remus told him in a soft voice. "I want to speak with you about something important."

Harry turned around, giving Remus a questioning look, when his guardian motioned him to take a seat in the living room. He obediently let himself sink into his favourite chair, wondering if Remus was going to scold him for leaving without prior notice and then staying away the whole summer. However, he realised soon and in utmost relief that the conversation revolved about something entirely different.

"Harry, Sybill and I are getting along quite well, and we've been thinking about combining our quarters with hers, but we didn't want to make a decision without asking you beforehand," Remus came straight to the point, causing Harry to smile.

"I'd like that," he said, simply.

"Harry, are you sure?" Remus asked, giving the ten-year-old a sharp look.

Harry shifted in his seat, feeling slightly uncomfortable. "I'm still allowed to live in my room, aren't I?"

"Of course Harry," Remus replied, immediately, seemingly taken aback by the question. "It's just that there are going to be three of us instead of two. Only if you don't mind though," he added.

"I don't mind," Harry reassured the older wizard. "I really like Sybill."

"Thank you Harry," Remus said, returning the smile, before he concluded the conversation, stating that it was time for Harry to go to bed, since classes were going to commence in the morning.


	6. Chapter 6

**Soul Phoenix**  
 **by Healer Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. Rating M for multiple character deaths throughout this story.**

 _It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.  
_ _Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind feedback on the previous chapter!_

* * *

During the next few weeks leading up to the September full moon, Harry was so excited having classes again together with Dudley, Lily, Su, Hermione and Neville that he completely forgot that there was something he wanted to ask Fawkes about Phoenix Land. However, while he spent the night of the full moon together with Remus and Dudley, Ceridwen remembered the matter and spoke with the fire phoenix.

When Harry returned home after transforming back, Ceridwen greeted him in for the old witch unusual excitement.

"Harry, I have some interesting news for you. I'm sorry that I didn't think about asking him earlier, but Fawkes told me that Phoenix Land is situated on the earth and thus is equally subjected to the moon phases as we are, which means that, while you were in your phoenix form, there was a full moon, but you didn't transform."

Harry looked up in surprise, and Ceridwen continued, "For the time being, this means nothing. However, at the next full moon, you could try to transform into your phoenix form before the moon rises and see what happens. Of course, you'd still have to spend the night in the safe room in case you transform though."

"Oh Ceridwen, that would be so cool," Harry blurted out in amazement. "Oh, I hope it's going to work."

"What's going to work?" Remus enquired, as he stepped into the room with Sybill in tow.

"To prevent himself from transforming into his wolf form by spending the night in his phoenix form," Ceridwen quickly filled the werewolf in, apparently noticing that Harry was too stunned by the idea to explain.

HP

For the first time in his life, Harry could not wait for the four weeks until the full moon to pass. Right after dinner, he transformed into his phoenix form, immediately realising that he felt much better than he would if he was in his human form so close to the full moon. Together with Remus and Dudley, he made his way into Severus' office and observed how the others took the Wolfsbane potion. Harry concentrated on the safe room and flashed, just when Cicero popped away with Remus and Dudley.

Shortly afterwards, his guardian and cousin transformed into their wolves' forms, however, Harry remained in his phoenix form without even the slightest pull towards a transformation.

While the two tame werewolves devoured their pile of meet and then lay down on the floor to cuddle and sleep through the night, Harry spent a while on a tiny spot behind one of the torches, before he flew down and nestled between the two wolves, finding it comfortable enough to sleep until he felt the wolves transform back into their human forms.

"Congratulations Harry," Remus told him in the morning, and Harry felt outright happy, when he walked into the Great Hall for breakfast, while the two others returned to their rooms to rest.

Harry exchanged a few words with the teachers at the head table, before the Weasley twins approached him and pulled him over to the Gryffindor table.

"Harry, can you help us…"

"… brew a prank potion for Halloween?" the twins asked in a small voice, when Harry came to sit between them at their house table.

"A prank potion?" Harry gasped, causing the twins to make shushing sounds.

"Oh sorry," Harry added, sheepishly, upon realising that he had managed to draw all the attention to himself, not only from the end of the Gryffindor table where they were sitting but also from the head table. He remained thoughtful for a moment, before he promised, "I'll ask Professor Snape if we can use the Potions classroom on Saturday morning. He'll want to know what we're going to brew though."

"Harry…"

"… It's a prank potion…"

"… Do you think…"

"… he'd allow us to brew it…"

"… if he knew what it was in advance?" the twins asked, incredulously.

"Maybe yes," Harry whispered back, "but if he doesn't know what it is, he surely won't."

"Here." Fred handed him a small parchment. "You can show it to him and tell him that it's supposed to wear off after the Halloween feast."

"Maybe he can look at the recipe and check if he thinks that it'll work at all," George added, smirking.

"Did you invent that?" Harry queried, quirking an eyebrow in surprise. Seeing the twins nod, he decided, "Let's go and ask him together right after breakfast."

HP

The Potions Master looked at the three boys in apparent amusement and finally invited them, "Join me in the Potions classroom after dinner tonight."

"Thank you sir," the twins replied, simultaneously.

"Thank you Professor," Harry echoed, smiling. He lingered for a moment and, when the twins had left, asked in a small voice, "Severus, may I join you in the Potions classroom today? We don't have classes, and…" He slowly trailed off.

"Of course you may, Harry," Severus replied, smiling. "If you wish, you could brew a couple of potions for me for Aunt Poppy."

"I'd like that," Harry replied, enthusiastically.

Even if he missed his own class and wished that Remus was able to transform into a phoenix as well, so that he could teach the class even after the full moon, Harry thoroughly enjoyed being in the Potions classroom the whole day. Sitting in the first row, he slowly worked himself through a short list of potions and only after finishing a batch, allowed himself to spend a few minutes observing what the students sitting next to him were brewing.

He felt especially happy when Dora and Charlie, who were already in their seventh year and had been good friends to Harry ever since he had come to Hogwarts, took the seats next to him. _'So sad that they'll be gone next year, when I'm finally going to be a first year,'_ he thought, as he went to fetch a batch of empty phials to bottle his finished potion.

HP

After the last afternoon class, Severus sent him away and instructed him to go and play with Dudley for a while.

"Believe me, you've already done more work today than some of the students, and you're only ten," he said, smirking. "So if you wish to assist Messrs. Weasley with their prank potion tonight, I want you to take a break now."

"All right," Harry agreed and hurried back to his own room, knowing that Dudley was most likely there, as he usually only returned to his own room in Petunia's quarters when his mother was actually there. After classes, however, she was working in the library, as this was the time when the students needed her most.

As could be expected, Dudley was sitting at one of the desks in Harry's room, hunched over an Ancient Runes project that he had received from Professor Babbling.

"Hey Harry, I was wondering where you were," Dudley greeted him, looking up from his parchment.

"Potions classroom," Harry replied, grinning. "Shall we play for a bit?" he then asked, pulling out the box with the Hogwarts Express from the shelf.

Dudley immediately agreed, and the two boys spent the time until Remus called them for dinner sending animals from Hogsmeade to London and back, unaware of Remus' amused expression at their enthusiasm, which had not lessened over the five years since they had received the train set.

 _'_ _I wonder what the twins' prank potion does,'_ Harry thought, when he followed Remus and Dudley to the Great Hall for dinner. _'Oh well, we're going to have fun in any case.'_

HP

When Harry and the twins entered the Potions classroom in excitement, Severus presented them with a slightly modified version of the twins' recipe.

"I thought that maybe instead of merely pranking the head table, you could use this on everyone attending dinner in the Great Hall who is not wearing some kind of costume that includes a mask," the Potions Master explained, quirking an eyebrow in silent question.

"Yes sir…"

"… That's brilliant," the twins immediately agreed.

"Thank you sir," Harry added, smiling as he thought to himself, _'I must tell Dudley that we'll need some kind of mask on Halloween.'_

Harry and the twins eagerly brewed their potion. To be exact, Harry brewed it, while Fred and George carefully prepared the ingredients under the professor's watchful eyes.

"Well done," Severus finally commended them and bottled a large phial of the light blue liquid to hand it to Cicero for use in the Great Hall during the Halloween feast.

"Thanks Professor…"

"… for allowing us to brew this…"

"… and thanks Harry…"

"… for helping," the twins blurted out in their strange sing-song, which Harry found very amusing, even if knowing that it annoyed Severus greatly.

"Thanks for letting me help," he replied, grinning.

HP

To Harry's and Dudley's delight, their classmates were allowed to remain at Hogwarts to attend the Halloween feast. Remus and Sybill had prepared costumes for them, which made them look like a small family of Dalmatians.

"Oh I can't wait," Hermione moaned in expectation.

"Yeah, me too," Su agreed. "This is going so much fun."

Lily chuckled. "I love the Dalmatian costumes. They look gorgeous but are still comfortable."

"That's true," Harry agreed, observing how Hermione helped Dudley to close his Dalmatian jumpsuit.

"Where are we going to sit tonight?" Neville asked with apparent interest, giving Harry a questioning look.

Harry shrugged. "As long as we all stay together, I don't mind. Maybe not too far from the head table though," he added, smirking. "Why don't you choose seats for us, Nev?"

"Let's go," Dudley suggested, and the group of six made their way to the Great Hall, giggling and chuckling as they went.

"Harry, is something wrong?" Lily suddenly whispered to him, once the children had taken seats at the far end of the Ravenclaw table, right in front of the high table.

"No, why?" Harry innocently returned the question, quirking an eyebrow.

"You seem a bit excited tonight," Lily replied, smiling.

"It's just fun," Harry whispered back, inwardly grinning in anticipation.

HP

When the feast began, the headmaster greeted everyone and asked for a minute of silence to remember Lily and James Potter and what they had done for the magical world to end the war nine years ago. Harry was just about to become sad, when he felt Lily and Su reach for his hands under the table, causing him to smile.

As soon as the minute of silence was over, Dumbledore opened the banquet, and everyone reached for their pumpkin juice, causing their features to change into those of Albus Dumbledore.

"Huh," Neville blurted out at the sight of several hundred old wizards wearing long, white beards and baby blue robes.

 _'_ _Oh no, even with the Dalmatian costumes, we got the beards,'_ Harry realised, inwardly groaning.

"You?" Dudley mouthed, giving Harry a sharp look, which he unobtrusively answered by a slight nod of his Dalmatian head.

"I didn't know that witches could grow beards," Hermione voiced her clear annoyance, making Harry grin at the old wizard's face with baby blue eyes and a white beard under the Dalmatian jumpsuit.

HP

During the next full moon, Harry proceeded like the last time and spent the whole evening and night in his soul phoenix form, before he enjoyed the day after the full moon, while his own class was cancelled, in the Potions classroom.

"Harry," Dudley said, pensively, a few days before the following full moon that was going to take place on the day after Christmas. "Why don't you try once if your phoenix form hasn't completely cured you from lycanthropy?"

"I'll try that out next week, but don't tell anyone in advance. They'd only fret if they knew."

"All right," Dudley agreed in apparent understanding. "Maybe I should also try to become an Animagus if that helps with the lycanthropy."

Harry let out a long sigh. "The question is if you need to become a phoenix Animagus or just any kind of Animagus. But it can't hurt to try, provided that we spend the night of the full moon in the safe room."

"How do you become an Animagus by the way?" Dudley enquired, looking at his cousin in clear expectation.

"First of all, you must decide on an animal and study it closely," Harry replied, when a sudden thought struck his mind. "Dudley," he asked, thoughtfully, "do you think it would be possible to have more than one Animagus form?"

Dudley shrugged, admitting that he had no idea.

"Well, then I'd like to try turning into a dog or cat or something similar," Harry said, slowly. "Maybe we could have forms in which we can communicate."

"A dog or cat would be good," Dudley agreed. "Shall we ask Remus if he'd be willing to try together with us?"

Harry nodded, eagerly. "Let's do that."

HP

Before the cousins had the opportunity to ask Remus about the matter, since everyone was being very busy during the days leading up to Christmas, something happened that made the boys forget about the matter for a moment.

 _'_ _Christmas Eve dinner,'_ Harry thought in anticipation, as he took his seat at the dinner table next to Dudley, looking forward to the delicacies that the house-elves had prepared for them. He absentmindedly noticed that someone sat on his left side, registering that it was someone with a white and green aura.

As this colour scheme was the most frequent among the teachers' auras, he automatically looked up to see who was sitting next to him, only to stare at his aunt in disbelief.

"Aunt Petunia, you're a witch!" he blurted out with a combination of disbelief and delight.

"Excuse me?" Petunia spoke up in what seemed to be disbelief and confusion. "You know very well that I'm not a witch."

"No," Harry shook his head and told Petunia and Severus, who was sitting on his aunt's other side, how her aura had changed from pink to white with the usual green frame for magic.

"Tunia, I believe that it must be true, as Harry is quite adept at reading auras," Severus spoke up in his soft, baritone voice. "I suggest that we ask Poppy to check your magical level later on."

"I'm here," Poppy spoke up and walked over, so that she came to stand behind Petunia and Harry, pulling her wand. "May I?" she asked, smiling.

Apparently sensing that the excitement from her fiancé, her nephew and the healer was contagious, Petunia nodded, giving the healer a hopeful look.

The healer grinned broadly, when she let her wand sink. "When I checked on you at the time you came to Hogwarts, your magic was not exceeding that of a Squib, however, like I told you at that time, it could still expand, which it seems to have done now. Congratulations Petunia, your magic is now at ten percent, which is not only a huge improvement but also brings you far from being a Squib," Poppy informed her, grinning broadly.

"I'm a witch?" Petunia asked, incredulously.

"Congratulations Aunt Petunia," Harry said, quietly.

"Congratulations Mum. That's cool," Dudley followed, and the Potions Master pulled his fiancé into a gentle hug, before a huge discussion about possible lessons for Petunia began and soon spread over the whole table.

HP

 _'_ _I'm not cured from lycanthropy,'_ Harry suddenly thought, _'otherwise I wouldn't feel the full moon already in my limbs.'_ He decided that there was no need to even try it out and that he would, as always since his return from Phoenix Land, spend the full moon in his Animagus form.

Since all adults busied themselves teaching Petunia about magic during the remaining ten days of the winter holidays, Harry and Dudley had much time for themselves, and Harry began to coach Dudley towards the Animagus transformation. Together, they spent a while in the library skimming books about magical and animals and finally decided to try becoming a crup. In the books, the crup was explained as a dog that was the magical equivalent to the muggle Jack Russel Terrier.

"I think that's a great choice," Harry said, excitedly. "If you're not sure if you'll be able to change into a magical animal, you can still become a muggle terrier if you want."

"Yeah, that's great," Dudley agreed, and from that time onwards, the two ten-year-olds used every free and unsupervised minute to practise transforming their left hands into dogs' paws.

"Don't worry Dudley, it took me three or four years to manage the transformation into my phoenix form," Harry said, soothingly, sensing that Dudley was slightly frustrated, when he still did not manage to transform his left hand by Easter.

"Maybe I should've begun earlier," Dudley moaned, "and we still don't even know if being a dog would help with the full moon nights."

"Yeah, well, don't get your hopes up about that," Harry said, sighing. "Just think about how much fun we're going to have in our dog forms."

"That's true," his cousin agreed, grinning. "Perhaps it wouldn't be bad to not tell anyone about it even if we manage the transformation," he added, thoughtfully. "It might be useful to have an option of hiding from the professors if necessary."

"All right, although we also have the option of making us invisible the elves' way, but first of all, we have to manage the transformation in any case," Harry sighed, before he absentmindedly tried once again to change his left arm into a crup's paw.

"Harry!" Dudley shouted, staring at his cousin's white fur, wide-eyed.

"Oh cool," Harry agreed, only now realising that it had worked. "Maybe it's easier for me, because I've already managed the other transformation," he said, thoughtfully, not wanting Dudley to become frustrated by his success. _'Totally great,'_ he thought. _'I hope I'll manage the whole transformation before becoming a first-year student here.'_

During the remaining weeks of the school year, the cousins intensified their efforts, and by the beginning of the summer holidays, Harry had succeeded in changing his whole body except for his head, and Dudley had at least achieved spiking white fur on his left hand. Unfortunately, it was not easy to reverse, and for two days, the ten-year-old ran around the castle hiding his left hand in his robe pocket, before he finally managed to change his hand back to its usual, fur-less state.

HP

Although the children's class with Remus was supposed to officially end before the leaving feast, the children begged the adults so much that they finally agreed to extend the class until the end of July. Considering that it was officially summer holidays, Remus decided to only have class during the mornings and allow the children to just spend time together during the afternoons.

"Thank Merlin Remus agreed…"

"… It'll be bad enough to be separated from you all…"

"… during the next summers…"

"…. as students aren't allowed to stay at Hogwarts during the summer," Harry and Dudley told their friends.

"What are you? The Weasley twins?" Hermione blurted out, glaring at them, while Lily and Su chuckled at their antics.

"No, but we thought…"

"… we could practise their way of speaking for a bit," the cousins replied, grinning.

"I think we have a much bigger problem," Neville spoke up in a small voice, causing everyone to look at him in clear surprise. "What if we end up in different houses?"

The question shocked them all. None of the children had even thought about the matter. Of course, they sometimes wondered where they were going to be sorted, however, there was something like a silent agreement that made them all assume that they were going to remain together in any case.

"I don't care which house I'm going to be sorted in, but I want to be together with all of you," Harry was the first to answer Neville's question.

"Me too," the three girls added, simultaneously.

"I have an idea," Dudley spoke up, seeming thoughtful. Apparently realising that everyone looked at him pleading for a brilliant idea, he sighed. "You know the Sorting Hat, Sopho. He's sitting on the shelf in the headmaster's office. Maybe we can speak with him and somehow bribe him into sorting us together."

"Hmmm, have you ever heard of someone getting sorted into a house because of bribing the Sorting Hat?" Su asked, her voice laced with doubt.

"Well, usually no one can do such a thing," Harry commented, "because people aren't at Hogwarts during the summer before their Sorting."

"That's true," Lily agreed. "Maybe for us, it would be a chance."

Hermione shook her head in apparent annoyance. "According to Hogwarts: A History, the Sorting Hat sorts students according to their character, which doesn't really sound as if bribing would be an option," she lectured the others.

"It can't hurt to try though," Su threw in. "Harry, Dudley, does any of you have a chance to speak with the Hat?"

Harry nodded and promised, "I will. I can easily visit Fawkes in my phoenix form and either have Fawkes translate or transform into my human form if Professor Dumbledore is absent. I'll try to speak with him tonight or tomorrow."

HP

Harry's chance arrived later the same day. At dinner time, the headmaster asked his colleagues for a small staff meeting to determine the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor right after the meal.

 _'_ _Great timing,'_ Harry thought and, observing the teachers head towards the staff room, simply popped himself into the headmaster's office.

"Hi Fawkes," he greeted the phoenix.

#Hi Nestling, why don't you transform?# his friend invited him. #I plan on spending some weeks on Phoenix Land again this summer. Are you going to accompany me?#

"I don't know," Harry replied, unsurely. "Not before the beginning of August in any case."

#All right. I'll ask you again then,# Fawkes replied, pleasantly.

 _'_ _Thank Merlin he's not upset,'_ Harry thought and turned to the Sorting Hat. "Sopho," he addressed the Hat in a soft voice.

"What do you want?" Sopho replied, sounding annoyed but also surprised.

"I'd like to know if there's a way to ask you to sort my five friends and me together," Harry came straight to the point.

Sopho let out a sound close to a snort. "Do you believe that I just sort students where I want?" he asked, incredulously and a bit haughtily. "I'm an old artefact, and I have to determine with my magic to which house someone belongs," he added, firmly.

#Ah Sopho, my old friend,# Fawkes suddenly trilled, #I'm sure you'll be able to do something for our nestling.#

"Ah shut up, you feathered duster," Sopho growled.

#Antiquated, dirty rag,# Fawkes returned, causing Harry to chuckle.

"Sopho," he tried again, "is there perhaps anything that I could do for you in return for the favour?"

"Hmmm," the Hat replied, thoughtfully. "Yes, that's a good idea. If you thoroughly prank the headmaster using his lemon drops, I'll sort you together. Don't tell anyone about this agreement though, or you won't like my decision."

"I'll only tell my five friends, so that they can help me," Harry promised and profusely thanked the Hat, before he hurriedly popped back to his room.

HP

"All right, what can we do with lemon drops to prank the professor?" Hermione asked, sounding bewildered, when the friends discussed the matter during the following afternoon.

"I know what we can do," Neville spoke up, chuckling. "Does he have some kind of statue or something in his office?"

Harry and Dudley exchanged a glance, before they replied.

"Not really a statue…"

"… but lots of strange devices."

"Good," Neville replied in a firm voice. "We could charm one of them to spit out lemon drops, for example, one per second, so that after a while, his office will be flooded with lemon drops."

"That's a fantastic idea," Su spoke up.

"Just where are we going to find such a charm?" Lily added, giving Harry a thoughtful look.

"Let's search the library," Harry decided, although he had to admit to himself that it sounded difficult.

To Petunia's surprise, the six children spent the remaining afternoons of the week in the library searching the Charms section.

"Are you looking for something specific?" she finally asked on the fifth day.

"Yes, but we can't tell," Dudley replied, sighing.

"This doesn't make much sense," Harry finally decided. "Maybe I should ask Gina, our house-elf, if she can help us. If we won't tell her that it's on Sopho's request, it won't count as having told someone," he added, more to calm himself than to convince the others.

"That's a good idea. I'm sure she'll help us," Dudley said, warmly.

HP

Later in the evening, Harry and Dudley spoke with Gina, and the friendly elf, who was still unable to refuse a request from Harry, agreed, smiling.

"I think Professor Dumbledore will be at the Wizengamot on Saturday. I will initiate the Charm on Saturday morning," she promised.

"Thank you so much, Gina. Please tell me before you go there, and I'll accompany you," Harry replied, grinning in anticipation.

HP

On Sunday morning, Harry and Gina decided to choose Godric Gryffindor's portrait in lack of a better object on the shelves.

"Master Harry, please ask Professor Gryffindor if that's all right with him," Gina whispered to Harry, before casting a sleeping spell at all the other portraits.

Harry turned himself visible and looked at the founder's portrait, grinning. "Godric," he addressed the portrait, "we wish to prank the current headmaster. Would it be all right if we cast a charm at your portrait making it spit out lemon drops?"

"All right, that sounds like fun," Godric replied, roaring with laughter. "Promise me one thing," he added, as soon as he was able to speak again. "Tell the portrait in the founders' quarters about it and watch together with them from the spy room."

"Oh that I'll do," Harry replied, eagerly. "Thank you so much for reminding me of that."

Gina cast the charm, so that lemon drops came right out of Godric's mouth and were being spat onto the headmaster's desk.

"Like that?" she asked in apparent amusement.

"That's brilliant," Harry replied. "Thank you so very much." He waited a moment, before Gina popped away, and turned to the Sorting Hat. "Is that all right Sopho? Did we meet your expectations?"

"This looks like much fun," Sopho replied, flapping his brim. "Thank you my boy."

"Please don't forget to sort my friends and me together then," Harry reminded the Hat, before he hurriedly popped back into his own room and went to search his cousin.

HP

Harry and Dudley spent the rest of the day popping into the founders' quarters every now and then and observed from the spy room how the headmaster's office slowly became flooded by lemon drops. The founders made themselves comfortable in the life size portrait frame that covered the whole wall of the Spy Room and together with the boys watched how the headmaster returned to his office.

Dumbledore tried to stop the charm with Finite Incantatem, however, apparently, the charm was unstoppable, and Godric still continued spitting out lemon drops.

"Godric, what happened here? Can you stop this please?" he finally addressed the founder.

Godric opened his mouth, however, instead of words, another lemon drop left though his lips, causing Dumbledore to groan.

"Fawkes, who did this?" he enquired.

#Such a great prank can only have been cast from a brilliant mind,# Fawkes replied, fluffing his back feathers, before he turned his head into a sleeping position.

"There are no students here apart from Harry, Dudley and their friends," Dumbledore mused aloud. "Would they be able to cast an irreversible charm though? Probably not. They're not even first-years," he answered his own question, before he called Severus and Minerva for help.

Only when Dumbledore asked Twinkle, his personal house-elf, as his last resort of possible assistance, the charm could finally be cancelled, and within seconds, his office was lemon drop free.

"Thank Merlin," Dumbledore sighed and profusely thanked his colleagues, before he ushered them to the Great Hall for dinner.

"That was much fun. Please forward my thanks to the little mischief maker," Sopho said to Fawkes, who returned a series of trills in clear amusement.


	7. Chapter 7

**Soul Phoenix**  
 **by Healer Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. Rating M for multiple character deaths throughout this story.**

 _It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.  
_ _Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind feedback on the previous chapter!_

* * *

Finally, the first of September arrived, and right after breakfast, Remus and Severus walked Harry and Dudley to the Apparition border, from where they apparated the excited children to the muggle platform at King's Cross.

"You know how to get onto the platform?" Severus enquired to make sure that the boys would not have problems if they left right away.

"Remus showed us when we came here to buy our school supplies two weeks ago," Harry replied, smiling. "Thank you Severus and Remus for bringing us here. We'll be all right from here."

"Thank Merlin that they allowed us to leave our luggage at home," Dudley whispered to Harry, as they observed a large family manoeuvre multiple trolleys through the station.

"Yeah, and thank Merlin for the house-elves who're going to move everything for us later on," Harry agreed, just when a woman's voice caught their attention.

"Packed with muggles of course. Now, what's the platform number?"

Harry turned around, realising that the speaker was a plump woman with many children, among them the Weasley twins.

"Come," he whispered to his cousin and pulled him away. Together, they ran through the barrier to platform nine and three quarters.

"The twins' mother is a bit strange, isn't she?" he whispered to Dudley. "The twins are third years and have three older brothers. Don't you think you'd have remembered the number of the platform by now?"

"True," Dudley replied, chuckling. "Well, there are strange people in this world. Let's go and look for the others."

HP

Ten minutes later, the six friends found themselves an empty compartment and made themselves comfortable.

"Finally," Lily said, happily looking around.

"Yeah, I couldn't wait for you to come back," Harry agreed, feeling as delighted as everyone else seemed to be.

Just when the train set to moving, the door to their compartment was opened, and two identical faces peered inside.

"May we sit here?" the twins asked, simultaneously.

"Of course," Neville invited them, quickly pushing some minor luggage from the two empty seats next to the door.

"You're a bit late, don't you think so?" Hermione asked in a strict voice, looking at the twins in apparent surprise.

"Ahhh, our mother…"

"… Apparently, she promised Dumbledore to wait on the muggle side…"

"… because Dumbledore feared that Harry and Dudley wouldn't find the platform…"

"… without our help," the twins complained, simultaneously rolling their eyes in apparent annoyance, causing everyone to chuckle.

"Strange. I wonder…"

"… how Dumbledore got that idea…"

"… especially since Remus and Professor Snape took us to the station…"

"… and made sure that we knew where the entrance to the platform was," Harry and Dudley replied, shaking their heads in exasperation.

"Oh well, our younger brother is set on befriending you, Harry…"

"… and especially our younger sister. She has been dreaming of marrying Harry Potetr since she was little. She's only going to come to Hogwarts next year though," the twins informed him.

"Thanks for telling me," Harry replied, sighing. "I'll do my best to keep some distance then. I don't want people as friends who only care about my name." _'What a strange family,'_ he thought in confusion. _'Although I really like the twins.'_

HP

Their conversation was interrupted when a blond boy suddenly stood in the doorframe, two fat boys standing on either side of him.

"Is it true that Harry Potter is in this compartment?" the blond boy asked, before he introduced himself as Draco Malfoy.

"That's me," Harry said in a small voice. "Hello Draco. Nice to meet you."

Looking around the compartment with a sneer on his face, Draco merely replied, "Likewise," before he left, taking his companions with him.

HP

The train ride passed in a blur, as the twins kept the younger students entertained with funny stories, and before they knew what happened, the train arrived at Hogsmeade, causing everyone to grab their hand luggage in panic.

"Just leave everything on the train…"

"… the house-elves will collect it and bring it to the castle," the twins instructed them, calmly, before they dashed away to finally find their own classmates.

The six friends followed Hagrid's invitation to the boats, and Harry, Dudley, Lily and Hermione caught one boat together, while Neville and Su sat together with two other first-years, whom they later introduced to the others as Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot.

"How beautiful," Harry breathed, when Hogwarts came into view.

"Yes, Hogwarts is most gorgeous from here," Lily agreed.

"Very mysterious," Dudley spoke up, grinning.

"Absolutely amazing," Hermione said, before she asked, "Harry, have you spoken with the Sorting Hat once more? Do you know if he's going to sort us together and where?"

"No," Harry replied, sighing. "Together he should - according to his promise. He can't deny that he had much fun with our prank for Dumbledore. But where? I don't want to belong to any house. I'd rather have friends in all houses and keep switching house tables at every meal."

"Yes, me too," Lily concurred.

Dudley and Hermione agreed as well, just when they arrived at Hogwarts and Hagrid ushered them upstairs to where Professor McGonagall was already waiting for the group of first-years to arrive.

Harry noticed that the professor looked very strict and resolved to never get on her bad side, at least not during the school year. Deep in thoughts about his new situation as a student, his changing relationship to the teachers, classes and the Sorting, he followed his friends and classmates into the Great Hall.

Only yesterday, Severus had spoken to him about the changes that were due to come. So far, Harry had assisted the Potions Master whenever he had time. However, the professor informed Harry that with classes, homework and possibly extra-curricular activities like Quidditch or others, he would not have time to assist anymore. Realising that Harry cast him a horrified look, he had suggested that they should wait a week and then once again speak about the matter.

 _'_ _I already know everything that the first-years are going to brew anyway,'_ Harry thought, knowing that he could brew all potions that were required for the OWLs flawlessly.

He was brought back to reality, when Professor McGonagall began to call the first name from her list, willing the Sorting ceremony to commence.

HP

Dudley was the first of their little group to be called to the Sorting Hat. He squirmed as he sat on the stool and Professor McGonagall placed Sopho on his hat. All of a sudden, a faint voice penetrated his mind.

'Ah, it's one of The Six. Hmmm, this is difficult, as I don't know the rest of the group, apart from you and your cousin. Now where to sort you?'

'Please together,' Dudley thought, feverishly.

'That's out of the question you moron, as I already promised your cousin,' Sopho thought back in clear irritation. 'The two of you would fit everywhere, but your friends, oh well, they must clearly be mad or let me say irresponsible being friends with the two of you, considering your cousin's fate. Oh well, that means…' With that he quietened down, before he shouted into the Hall, "Gryffindor."

 _'_ _Harry's fate?'_ Dudley wondered, as he approached the Gryffindor table and let himself sink into the second empty seat, reserving the one between him and Fred Weasley for Harry.

HP

To Harry's relief, Sopho kept his promise and sorted Hermione, Su, Neville and Lily into Gryffindor as well.

'Thank you so much,' he thought to the Hat, when he was the last of the six to be sorted.

'You're welcome,' Sopho thought back, 'although there would have been better choices than Gryffindor for most of you. You, for example, would do best in Slytherin. Plus I need to sort some others, who'd fit best into Gryffindor, into other houses to keep the balance.'

'Oh, I'm sorry,' Harry replied, only to relax upon the Hat's response.

'Don't be,' Sopho thought to him. 'Having lemon drops come out of Godric's mouth flooding the headmaster's office was absolutely worth it. Thanks again. I think I haven't laughed so much in many years.' With that, he shouted into the Hall, "Gryffindor."

 _'_ _Thank Merlin,'_ Harry thought, as he took his spot between Dudley and Fred Weasley under huge applause.

HP

After the feast, Percy Weasley, the fifth-year Gryffindor prefect, led the first-years to the Gryffindor common room with the instruction that curfew for the first-years was going to commence immediately.

Harry, Dudley and Neville shared a dormitory together with two other boys, Seamus Finnegan and Ronald Weasley. After getting ready for bed, the five boys sat on Harry's and Dudley's beds, which were right next to the window, and introduced themselves to each other.

When Ronald came to sit next to him, Harry noticed in shock that the boy had two auras, white with green as well as black and yellow with a green fame that was slightly speckled with pink.

 _'_ _He's got Percy's rat,'_ Harry realised, feeling disgusted on the one hand, however, amused on the other hand, knowing that living together with the rat in the same dormitory would give him much chance to practise on the small animal.

HP

Fortunately, Ron's bed was right next behind Harry's, still close enough so that Harry was able to sense the rat's aura. When he woke up in the morning, realising that it was fairly early and the other boys were still asleep, he decided to play with the rat for a while. _'I really need to be careful to not deplete my magic again,'_ he thought and resolved to just make the tiniest change possible. Using his wish magic, he changed the green frame just a little more towards the pink speckles. _'That's enough for now,'_ he decided. _'If I do this every morning, the green will be completely changed to pink in maybe two weeks' time.'_

Feeling contented by his achievement, however, slightly tired from the wish magic, he decided to get some more sleep and rested until Dudley woke him up on time for breakfast.

HP

"Harry," Oliver Wood, who Harry knew to be the Quidditch captain, addressed Harry, as soon as the first-years had taken their seats at the house table. "Are you willing to play Seeker for us?"

"Of course, I'd love that," Harry replied, grinning. "What about the first-year rule though?"

"Well, leave that to me. I'm going to speak with McGonagall as soon as possible," Oliver promised.

"She won't miss an opportunity to ensure the Quidditch cup for the next seven years," Angelina, one of the third-year members of the team, added.

When Professor McGonagall approached the table to hand out their time tables, she was immediately confronted with the problem and promised to speak with her colleagues about the matter at the earliest convenience.

"Don't worry, I'll do my best to get Harry onto the team," she promised in a smaller voice, only for the team to hear.

"Well, yeah, she's a Gryffindor through and through," Oliver commented, when the professor had returned to the high table, causing many others to nod their agreement.

Only then did Harry get a chance to look at his timetable and realised that they had Transfiguration first thing in the morning together with the Slytherins.

When breakfast was almost over, he motioned his classmates to follow him and led them over to the Slytherin table in order to invite the Slytherin first-years to join them as they walked to the Transfiguration classroom.

While Draco and his housemates accepted the invitation and walked to their first morning class together with the Gryffindors, Ronald Weasley muttered something like not associating with slimy snakes and just wandered off by himself.

HP

Harry entered the Transfiguration classroom and slipped into the seat next to Lily, looking up in surprise, yet feeling pleased, when Draco let himself sink into the seat next to him.

To his amusement, the others also took their seats independently of their house affiliation, so that they came to sit in a completely mixed up manner – in contrary to all classes, which he had so far attended, where there used to be a strict line between the houses. _'I like that,'_ he thought, giving the cat on the teacher's table a smile, which the professor seemed to return, before she transformed into her human form.

"Five points each to Gryffindor and Slytherin for an attempt to overcome the house rivalry," McGonagall uttered, before she held a small monologue about Transfiguration, quickly transformed her desk into a pig and beck, when finally Ronald Weasley stumbled into the classroom. McGonagall gave him a questioning look, when he remained standing in the aisle, and offered to transfigure his book bag into a map, so that he'd be able to find his seat.

"There are only seats next to Slytherins left," Ronald complained, before a blood curling glare from the teacher made him sit down at the nearest empty spot.

HP

Defence Against the Dark Arts had been one of the few subjects, to which Harry had really been looking forward, which was not so much because of the topic, but because he and his friends had not studied much in that area yet.

However, with Professor Quirrell's stuttering, it was difficult to even understand him and follow his class. On top of these difficulties, Harry noticed that his head began to hurt, as soon as he entered the classroom.

 _'_ _That was disappointing,'_ Harry thought, as he left the classroom behind his classmates.

"Harry," Seamus addressed the boy. "You seem to know your way around Hogwarts so well. Can you show us where the Potions classroom is, please?"

"Of course," Harry replied and led his classmates towards the dungeons for their Potions class. _'Oh well, at least Potions is going to be good,'_ he thought, when he took his seat between Lily and Draco like during Transfiguration and Defence.

If the Potions professor was surprised at the first-years' way of mixed seating, he did not voice his opinion. Instead, he dove into a monologue about the fine art of brewing potions, before he let his eyes wander over the classroom and suddenly began to hiss.

"Weasley," Severus growled. "I know that the Hufflepuffs are famous for their laziness, but you're a Gryffindor, and I suggest that you take notes," he added in a clear voice that made Harry know that he felt absolute annoyance towards his classmate.

"Weasley, where would you look for a bezoar?" he then asked, causing the redhead to shrug.

"Why would I know that?" the boy asked, boldly. "This is our first class, and you haven't taught us anything yet."

"Five points from Gryffindor for your insolence," Severus replied, wearing a blank expression.

Harry along with his five friends and Draco raised their hands, however, Severus did not choose to call any of them. Instead, he informed Ronald, "In the stomach of a goat, just for your information. If you attend my class, I expect from you that you read your textbook beforehand. If you'd done so, you'd have known the answer just like your classmates."

HP

When the professor finally made them brew a simple healing potion, which Harry already knew by heart and thought he'd be able to brew in his sleep, he wondered why he had to brew the same potion as his classmates. _'I thought he'd give me something more advanced to do,'_ he thought in slight disappointment.

However, when he was just about to extinguish the flame under his cauldron, Severus addressed him. "Mr. Potter, could you please extend your potion to a Pepperup potion for use in the hospital wing?"

"Of course sir," Harry replied, nodding in understanding, before he put his potion under a stasis charm and fetched the ingredients that he needed to add to get a Pepperup potion. Ten minutes later, he finished the batch, just about when everyone else was ready with their first potion.

"Place one phial of your concoction onto my desk," Severus instructed the class, before he examined Harry's work and nodded, contentedly. "Please bottle the batch and take it to Madam Pomfrey," he told the boy, who immediately set to work, smiling happily.

"Just head to the Great Hall for lunch," Harry told his friends. "I'll catch up with you shortly."

Grinning in amusement upon watching the whole class follow Dudley out of the dungeons, he made his way to the hospital wing, where he placed his new batch on the healer's desk.

"Aunt Poppy, here's a batch of Pepperup potion for you," he addressed the healer, who just came out of one of the small teacher's rooms upon hearing him.

"Did Severus made you brew it in your Potions class?" Poppy asked, smiling.

Harry nodded.

"Well, thank you very much, Harry. Twenty points to Gryffindor," the healer told him, before she dismissed him with the instruction to go and have lunch.

 _'_ _I just gained twenty points, how cool is that? And five earlier in Transfiguration,'_ Harry thought, feeling quite accomplished, as he hurried to the Great Hall to catch up with his friends.

HP

It was at breakfast the following morning, when Oliver informed Harry that he was on the Quidditch team. "Apparently, McGonagall was able to convince her colleagues to skip the first-year rule," he said, beaming with excitement.

"So that means…"

"… that Gryffindor is going to win the Quidditch Cup…"

"… seven years in a row," the twins added, cheerily.

"Ah, wait and see," Harry replied, feeling extremely uncomfortable at the expectations that were being set on him. "Maybe I won't be able to win as much as one match."

"Impossible," Dudley spoke up, grinning.

"Exactly. We've all seen you flying and catching the Snitch before," Oliver agreed, smiling.

HP

A couple of days later, the first-years' first flying lesson took place. Feeling extremely bored by practicing to call their brooms up into their hands, as if they had never sat on a broom before, Draco asked Madam Hooch if he and a few others could just play a short match of Quidditch.

Knowing that Harry and Dudley were also excellent flyers, Hooch agreed, and Harry, Dudley and a few others gathered around Draco.

"Well, I'm going to be one captain, and Harry is the other," Draco decided. "I'm going to be Seeker."

"Me too," Harry spoke up.

"Blaise, you'll be the Keeper," Draco called out.

"Dudley, Keeper," Harry echoed.

"Greengrass, Chaser."

"Neville, Chaser."

"Nott, Chaser."

"Lily, Chaser."

Only Ronald Weasley was left. "Sorry, Weasel, but we don't need any more people," Draco said, matter-of-factly, before he mounted his broom and took off into the air.

However, Ronald was more than disappointed and not willing to let the Slytherin boy get away with it. He began to shout after Draco in an attempt to force the boy into coming down and find a solution, until Madam Hooch threatened to take points off Gryffindor if he did not shut up.

"You can always play a second game with changed members," she reasoned.

However, Ron could not be convinced and began to throw a temper tantrum bad mouthing the Slytherins.

"Now Weasel," Draco said, as he landed on the ground to finish the other boy's tirade, so that they could enjoy their game. "I challenge you to a Wizard's Duel, tonight at midnight in the Trophy Room."

"All right," Ron agreed, before he stomped off in anger until Madam Hooch called him back and instructed him to either participate in the first-years' practice or watch his classmates play.

HP

"Maybe I should have called him," Harry spoke up, when he and his friends met in his own room in Remus' and Sybill's quarters after dinner. "But I wanted to have you with me first."

"Don't worry, Harry," Hermione said, soothingly. "One was left out, and by chance it was him. It's not your fault at all.

"I thought it was quite funny," Su spoke up. "Who'd have thought that he'd behave like a five year old, throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of the flying class."

"Oh well, I hope they won't get too many points taken tonight, if they really go to the Trophy Room to duel," Hermione added, sighing.

"It's not our problem. We received quite some points today," Harry replied, smiling, and told his friends about the twenty points which Poppy had awarded him.

HP

By the time the boys were assembled in the dormitory, Ronald asked Seamus to be his second for the Wizard's duel, and to Harry's relief, Seamus agreed, apparently thinking that the matter was going to be great fun.

Harry, Dudley and Neville did not comment on the matter but swiftly went to bed, resolved to not be bothered by the matter.

In the morning, they barely managed to wake up Ron and Seamus, and when the boys finally woke up, they told them in apparent excitement that Draco had not shown up for the duel but instead had given them out to Filch.

"Then on the way back, we got lost and ended up face to face with a three-headed dog," Ron added to the tale.

"A three-headed dog?" Harry asked, incredulously. "Why would they keep such a thing at Hogwarts?"

Ron and Seamus exchanged a glance and both shrugged, helplessly.

"At least you didn't get caught," Dudley finally voiced what the three friends thought.

"Yeah, thank Merlin, but I'm going to get my revenge on Malfoy," Ron threatened, before he left through the door to be the first to head to breakfast.

 _'_ _Oh Merlin, he's really stupid,'_ Harry thought, as he slowly followed his friends to the common room to meet up with the girls.

HP

It took Harry three weeks of occasionally working on the rat, before he managed to completely change its green aura to pink. _'Yellow and black with a pink frame,'_ he thought, feeling very accomplished. _'Maybe I should now try to change the black to white,'_ he thought during his History of Magic class, while most of his classmates were asleep. _'The rat's the best test object I could wish for,'_ he mused, when Hermione brought him back to reality.

"Harry, do you think there's anything we can do to get a proper teacher for History of Magic?" the girl whispered.

"Maybe Remus," Lily spoke up from the row before them. "He isn't teaching anything now, is he?"

"No, he isn't," Harry said, knowing that Remus was reluctant to accept any teaching position because of his lycanthropy. _'Oh well, with the improved Wolfsbane, he might be well enough to teach,'_ he thought, _'especially if it's something harmless like History of Magic.'_

"Harry, let's go and ask him right after the class," Hermione said with apparent eagerness. "We can then try to convince the headmaster."

"I can't even believe how Dumbledore can tolerate a ghost teach such a boring class, during which eighty percent of the students sleep anyway," Draco added from Harry's left side.

HP

Right after the class, which was the last afternoon class, Hermione, Lily, Harry and Draco went to see Remus. They found him in the library, and Harry quietly asked him to join them in a nearby, unused classroom for a moment.

"Remus, would you be willing to teach History of Magic?" Hermione blurted out, as soon as Draco closed the door behind them. "Binns is a horrible teacher."

To Harry's surprise, Remus began to laugh. "Binns has already been teaching when we were students, and most people used to sleep through his classes."

"Will you, Remus? Please?" Harry then asked, giving his guardian a puppy dog look.

"I could," Remus admitted, pensively. "I'm not sure if Professor Dumbledore will allow it though. I think it must be for a reason that he still occupies that ghost after so many decades."

"Let's go and ask him," Draco suggested, and Harry agreed immediately.

"Remus, will you come with us?" Harry invited the older wizard, who, however, denied.

"Do you know the password?" Draco asked, when they came to stand in front of the gargoyle that was guarding the headmaster's office.

"I don't need one," Harry replied, knowing that the castle recognised him as her owner and let him into any room without as much as a password. He addressed the gargoyle in a firm voice. "Hello, we wish to speak with Professor Dumbledore please."

Without as much as a response, the gargoyle sprung aside and allowed the children to step onto the moving staircase that brought them right to the entrance door of the headmaster's office.

"Come in," they heard the headmaster say, and Harry opened the door ushering them all inside.

"How nice of you to visit me on this fine afternoon," Dumbledore greeted them and offered them a lemon drop, which they politely declined.

"Professor," Hermione was the first to speak up, "we'd like to ask you if you could please hire a proper professor for the History of Magic class."

"Professor Binns is absolutely unqualified of properly teaching," Harry added.

"All he speaks about are the goblin wars," Draco explained.

"And eighty percent of the students sleep through his classes," Lily informed the old wizard.

"Please hire a proper professor for that class," Harry concluded in a firm voice.

"Ah my boy, that's not so easy," Dumbledore replied in his grandfatherly voice, which he always used when speaking with Harry. "Professor Binns has done great things during the last war against the goblins, and Hogwarts owes him, which prevents me from firing him," he explained.

"Could you perhaps then hire a second teacher for the subject and have him teach the same classes in a different classroom?" Lily suggested.

"Right, I'm sure Binns wouldn't even notice if he was teaching a class without students," Hermione agreed with her friend.

"I'm sorry, but that's not possible," Dumbledore replied in a grave voice.

Very upset, the four first-years left the headmaster's office.

"Old coot," Harry mumbled in disappointment, as they headed towards the Great Hall for dinner.

"Maybe my father can do something," Draco spoke up, pensively. "He's on the school board."

"That would be great," Harry acknowledged, however, Lily suddenly blurted out laughing.

"No, I know something much better," she said, chuckling. "Harry, you're the heir of all four founders, right?"

"Err, yes?" Harry replied, questioningly.

"Well, as such you're also the owner of Hogwarts," she continued. "Therefore, you should be able to overwrite the headmaster's decisions. Why don't we go and speak with the founders later on?"

"That should work," Hermione spoke up, pensively. "Lily's right, Harry."

Harry turned to Draco. "If you want to accompany us, come to the Gryffindor table when dinner is finished. We'll head right there then."

"Do you think it's wise to take Draco with us?" Lily asked, once Draco had departed from them and headed towards the Slytherin table. "He's the son of a Death Eater."

"First of all, even if we take him with us now, he won't be able to get into the founders' quarters just by himself. Secondly, his aura isn't black, at least not yet," Harry replied in a soft voice. "It's grey, and I want to have it change to white rather than black. Maybe we can prevent him from following his father's footsteps."

"That's a very good idea," Hermione agreed, smiling, and the three took their seats next to their friends to fill them in about their conversation with the headmaster and their intention to possibly cross the headmaster's ideas.


	8. Chapter 8

**Soul Phoenix**  
 **by Healer Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. Rating M for multiple character deaths throughout this story.**

 _It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.  
_ _Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind feedback on the previous chapter!_

* * *

After dinner, the six walked to the founders quarters with Draco tagging along.

"Let's speak with the founders first and then with Hogwarts herself," Harry decided, as he led his friends into the founders' living room.

"This is hideous," Rowena was the first to react to the information about the ghost professor. "Harry, as the owner of Hogwarts, I ask you to fire the ghost and hire an adequate professor for the position."

"You must know, little Leo… As the owner of Hogwarts, your decisions overwrite those of the headmaster," Godric informed him, grinning.

"And while you're at it," Hermione spoke up in a soft voice, "Could you please hire another professor?"

"He can," Godric emphasized, giving Harry a pointed look.

"Err… what for?" Harry asked in confusion, looking questioningly from Godric to Hermione.

"You know, from third year onwards, everyone can choose Muggle Studies as elective subject," Hermione began to explain. Seeing everyone nod, she continued, "I think it should be compulsory for everyone raised in the magical world from first year onwards, and at the same time, there should be a class Etiquettes of the Magical World or something like that for the muggle raised students."

"That's a brilliant idea," Lily was the first to agree.

 _'_ _That's true,'_ Harry thought. _'Considering that I'm the heir of the ancient and noble house of Potter plus of the founders, I know nothing about my rights and responsibilities.'_ He remained pensive for a moment, before he voiced his thoughts.

"Godric," he finally called out to the founder, "what do you think?"

"Do it," the older wizard simply said.

"So that means that we need three new professors," Harry said, pensively, "one magical raised for Wizarding Etiquette, one muggle raised for Muggle Studies, and someone for History of Magic, but I believe that Remus would make a good teacher here."

"I could ask my Gran if she'd be willing to teach Wizarding Etiquette," Neville spoke up.

"That's a wonderful idea, Nev. Please do so," Harry agreed immediately. "Since the school year has already begun more than a month ago, we really need to fill the positions quickly."

"Ask Hogwarts to have the fireplace here in this room connected to the Floo Network, then you can floo call her right away," Godric instructed Harry.

"All right, we'll do that in a moment," Harry promised. "Now we need someone for Muggle Studies, but it must be someone who has actually lived in the muggle world. Professor Burbage was magical raised."

"Mum perhaps," Dudley threw in. "We could find someone else for the library then."

"Maybe Mother would be interested to become the librarian," Draco spoke up.

"All right then, let's speak with Hogwarts, have the fireplace connected, and then you can ask your grandmother and mother," Harry resolved. "Dudley, could you please ask Aunt Petunia or bring her here, whatever? Because we need to have her consent before we can even ask Mrs. Malfoy."

"Of course," Dudley replied and hurried off, closely followed by Hermione.

 _'_ _That's good,'_ Harry thought. _'If anyone will be able to convince Aunt Petunia, it'll be Hermione.'_

Leading his friends into the Parlour, he addressed the castle. "Hogwarts, could you please connect the fireplace in the living room to the Floo network or whom do we need to ask?"

"Give me a moment, Harry. I can do that," Hogwarts replied in the voice of an elder lady, which Harry always found very soothing. "It is connected now," the castle informed him after a moment. "It's locked for incoming calls though unless you manually approve them."

"That's fine. Thank you so much," Harry replied, feeling very much reassured at the castle's thoughtfulness.

"All right Neville. Will you please call your grandmother and ask her, and if she agrees, please invite her to step through," he instructed his friend, who nodded and walked over to the fireplace in determination.

A moment later, Augusta Longbottom stepped through the fireplace, at the same time when Dudley returned with Petunia and Severus in tow.

Harry motioned everyone to take seats, before he called Gina and asked for refreshments.

"Harry, shall I explain?" Hermione spoke up, seeming very eager.

"Yes please," Harry agreed, smiling.

Hermione told the adults about the incidents that had let them confer about classes at Hogwarts and the necessity of changing some of them. "Usually, Harry would make a public announcement for the open positions, however, since the school year is already quite in progress, we urgently need adequate staff. Therefore, we decided to fill the positions with the best available teachers," she ended her monologue.

"I understand," Severus was the first to react. "You have valid points there, and I fully agree with your decisions, although I'm sure that the headmaster won't be pleased at all. Nevertheless, I believe that it's an important and necessary change to maintain or better yet improve the reputation of Hogwarts and its students."

"I'm not at all qualified to teach Muggle Studies though," Petunia spoke up, looking at Severus.

"Maybe I can help you set up your lesson plans," Mrs. Longottom suggested, gently.

"Thank you, Mrs. Longbottom," Severus replied. "That would reassure my fiancée greatly. Apart from that, you've already lived in the magical world and have been watching students for almost six years. I don't think that you'll have problems."

"All right then," Petunia agreed, smiling. "If you deem me adequate for the position, I'll take it."

"Thank you Aunt Petunia," Harry spoke up before turning to Severus. "Severus, you know Draco's mother. Do you believe that she would make a good librarian?"

Severus gave him a surprised look, however, nodded, causing Draco to head to the fireplace and call his mother, who – to Harry's relief – immediately agreed to accept the position.

"Gina," Harry called his elf and instructed her to fetch Remus, so that he could ask him for his consent to become the History of Magic professor.

"Harry," Severus spoke up, pensively. "I believe that before announcing the new positions to the student body, you should announce them to the staff, at the same time as you dismiss Professors Binns and Burbage…"

"Of course," Harry threw in.

"… and you should speak with Professor McGonagall, since she's the one who has to re-make the timetables."

"All right, let's do that right away, just one question," Harry replied, thoughtfully. "The Wizarding Etiquette and Muggle Studies classes we only need from first to third year, right?"

"I believe that would suffice," Mrs. Longbottom replied.

"I agree," Severus concurred.

"Remus, will you accept the position of the professor for History of Magic from Monday onwards?" Harry asked the werewolf, once he entered the room, resolving to thank the founders later on for following their conversation and allowing the respective persons entry to their quarters.

After receiving a quick update about the situation from Severus, Remus immediately accepted the offered post. "Thank you Harry. I really appreciate it," he said, smiling contentedly.

"Thank you, Mrs. Longbottom, Mrs. Malfoy, Mrs. Dursley and Mr. Lupin for accepting the offered positions," Harry finally said. "I suggest that we move to the staff room, while I have my house-elf summon the rest of the staff."

HP

"Harry, the four of us will summon the staff," Helga spoke up from the founders' portrait, and before Harry could think of a response, the four left their portrait.

"Apparently, it has been taken care of," Severus spoke up in clear amusement. "Are all six of you going to accompany Harry?" he then asked the first-years, causing them to look at Harry for advice.

 _'_ _Hermione is the best at explaining,'_ Harry thought and decided, "Hermione and I will go. The rest of you can watch the meeting from the Spy Room. Dudley, you know how to switch it from the headmaster's office to the staff room, right?"

"Yes," his cousin replied, smirking, before Harry and Hermione followed the adults to head to the staff room.

 _'_ _Dumbledore will be so pleased,'_ Harry mused, feeling very much reassured by not only Hermione's but also Severus' presence.

HP

Together with Petunia, Augusta Longbottom, Narcissa Malfoy, Remus and Severus, Harry and Hermione stepped into the staff room, just before the other professors began to arrive.

Dumbledore was one of the last to enter the staff room. He took his seat and gave his deputy a questioning look. However, McGonagall unobtrusively shook her head.

Glancing at the guests and the students, he spoke up in clear surprise. "Godric Gryffindor informed me that an impromptu staff meeting was going to take place here. However, neither Minerva nor I have called for the meeting, and I see that we have students as well as guests, who are not staff members, attending. What is the meaning of this?"

Harry stood from his seat. "Headmaster, please excuse the short notice. I'm the one who called for the meeting."

"What does this mean, my boy? You're merely a first-year student and have no right to call for a staff meeting let alone together with external guests," Dumbledore replied in his grandfatherly voice that he normally used when talking to Harry.

"I've called the staff meeting in my capacity as the owner of Hogwarts," Harry explained in a clear and firm voice. "Seeing that you were unwilling to respond to our earlier requests, I have decided to take at least some matters into my own hands."

"But Harry, my boy, you can't…"

"He can," McGonagall interrupted the headmaster. "I don't know what this is about either, but as the owner of Hogwarts, Harry has every right to overwrite your decisions, Albus."

"Harry, my boy, even if you're the owner of Hogwarts, you're still an eleven-year-old boy with no life experience whatsoever," Dumbledore addressed the first-year.

"We have almost two months of experience with classes and social life at Hogwarts though," Hermione spoke up, "and these experiences forced us to think about some much necessary changes."

"Exactly. Together with the founders of Hogwarts," Harry continued, nodding to the portrait of the four founders that decorated one wall of the staff room, "we have decided to urgently make some changes to existing classes and also invent a new class. I am very sorry to say this, but I see no other way than to release Professors Burbage and Binns from their positions taking effect immediately."

"What?" Burbage asked, incredulously, however, seeing the headmaster cast her a grave look and nod, she simply left the room.

"Albus, you can't do that," the ghost protested.

"I'm very sorry Cuthbert, but my hands are tied here," Dumbledore replied in a grave voice. "Please believe me that I'd have never made such a decision."

To Harry's relief, the ghost left through the next wall without further ado.

"Very well, Remus Lupin will be the new History of Magic professor from Monday onwards," Harry continued to inform the teachers, before he turned to the deputy headmistress.

"Remus, what about the days after the full moon?" Dumbledore threw in. "Who is going to cover your classes?"

"I will be able to teach myself," Remus replied, casting a small smile in the direction of Severus and Harry. "Severus and Harry have improved the potion enough to make it possible," he added as an afterthought.

"Professor McGonagall," Harry continued, "I'm very sorry for the extra work you're going to have with this, but we'd like to invent two classes. Well, one is not really new, but the Muggle Studies class will now be mandatory for all students from first year to third year who have been raised in the magical world, and Petunia Dursley will be the professor for this class."

"Very good," Rolanda Hooch threw in, causing Harry to smile at the Flying instructor.

"I think so, too," Poppy added. "I've often heard from muggleborn students that the Muggle Studies class was far beside reality, since the professor had no experience of living in the muggle world whatsoever. Certainly, Petunia is a much more adequate candidate for the position."

"Thank you Aunt Poppy and Aunt Rolanda," Harry said, gratefully, and continued, "We're also convinced that there's much need for a counterpart to this class. The new subject of Wizarding Culture, for which Mrs. Longbottom has kindly agreed to become the professor, will be obligatory for all students who have been raised in the muggle world. This class will also cover first through third year, and I'm personally looking forward to it."

"Me too, very much," Hermione added, smiling in clear anticipation.

"This is an extremely good idea," Professor Flitwick spoke up, and Harry saw that several other professors nodded their agreement.

"Mrs. Malfoy has kindly agreed to take over the position of the librarian," Harry announced.

"I believe that all changes made by Mister Potter are extremely adequate," Severus spoke up, glancing at the headmaster.

"That they are my boy," Dumbledore apparently could not help agreeing. "However, I'm afraid that it won't work like this."

"And why not if I may ask?" Hermione enquired in clear indignation.

"All staff recruiting as well as the installation of new subjects have to be approved by the Board of Governors," Dumbledore replied in a firm voice.

"Oh right, that's no problem then, as I'm going to abolish the Board of Governors immediately after this meeting," Harry decided.

"The Board of Governors is neither useful nor necessary if there's an owner inside the school," Hermione agreed. "They've done nothing good for the school. Even if they already suffered through Professor Binns' classes themselves, they did nothing to release him from his post when they took their positions on the board. And they didn't make any improvements to Hogwarts' educational system either."

"Well, having the Board of Governors dissolved clearly has its merits," Professor McGonagall spoke up with a rare smile playing on her lips. "Harry, I fully agree with each of your decisions that you've presented tonight."

"Thank you Professor," Harry replied, smiling. "I'd like to ask you for one favour." Seeing McGonagall and the headmaster look at him in clear expectation, he continued, "When either of you informs the students about these changes, I'd like to ask that you don't reveal that it was me who forced them. I'd like to hide my position as the owner of Hogwarts from the student body if possible."

"I fully understand, Harry," Professor McGonagall replied, warmly. "I'll see to it that your secret will be kept, at least for the time being."

"Thank you Professor," Harry replied, contentedly.

Turning to the headmaster, he asked, "Professor Dumbledore, will you provide living quarters and classrooms for the new professors or shall I handle the matter?"

"I'll see to it," Dumbledore promised, nodding at Harry, however, without the usual twinkle in his eyes.

"That's all I can ask for. Good night, everyone," Harry replied and led Hermione out of the room.

HP

The following day was Halloween, and during breakfast, the headmaster made the announcements concerning the new classes. Huge applause followed his statement that Professor Binns had been released from his services and replaced by Professor Remus Lupin. The resonance to the Muggle Studies class and the Wizarding Etiquette class for first-years was equally positive, making Harry inwardly smile. _'Thank Merlin, we did the right thing,'_ he thought, revolving to consider how to further improve the curriculum at the next opportunity. _'Maybe we should also install Latin classes,'_ he mused. _'It'll surely help with the spell work.'_ To his relief, the headmaster made his announcements in a way that made all students believe that the decision about the changes had been made by the staff.

HP

During the Defence Against the Dark Arts class in the morning, it happened that Harry for the first time came close enough to Professor Quirrell to sense his aura – and it made him stare at the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor in shock.

Professor Quirrell immediately reminded him of Percy Weasley. Yes, he knew that Percy only had one aura and that it was white with green as it was supposed to be. However, he'd never forget the first time that he had met the boy, when he was carrying his rat in his robe pocket causing Harry to think that he possessed two auras.

However, Quirrell's auras were even stranger than Percy's had been at that time. One aura was grey with the usual green frame, however, the other aura was something that Harry had never seen before. It was black with a green frame, however, the black and the green parts were speckled with red. _'Red is the colour of ghosts,'_ Harry thought. _'He's probably carrying a pet with him like Percy was at that time, but a pet that's a ghost or a half-ghost if that's possible at all. Huh?'_

Before Harry could much further consider the matter, the class was over, and the first-years had to leave for the Charms classroom. _'As soon as I get the chance, I'm going to ask Ceridwen about it,'_ he resolved, although he could well remember how the witch had reacted when he had told her about Percy's supposed-to-be two auras and thus did not get his hopes up that his grandmother might be able to help him. _'She probably won't believe me anyway,'_ he thought, inwardly sighing.

HP

Usually, Hermione took her seat between Dudley and Blaise, just like Harry used to sit between Lily and Draco in most of his classes. However, on this morning, Ron Weasley hurried into the classroom and took Blaise's seat next to Hermione, completely ignoring the girl's frown.

 _'_ _Ron really is a menace,'_ Harry thought, noticing that Hermione tried in vain to teach the boy the correct wand movement for the easy charm that Professor Flitwick made them practise.

However, he only realised later just how much of a trouble maker Ron was. On their way back to the Great Hall, he made fun of her, imitating how she had corrected his incantation during the class. Finally, he said to Seamus, who seemed to be his best buddy – _'and only one,_ ' Harry thought – "She's an unnerving know-it-all. No wonder that she doesn't have decent friends and always hangs out with Slytherins. She's so…"

Harry could not understand what the boy further said, however, he noticed that Hermione dashed away, wondering why the girl took the idiot's words to heart. _'She should know better than to listen to that git,'_ he thought with a combination of anger and confusion.

Hermione neither showed up for lunch nor for the afternoon classes, making Harry really worry.

After the last afternoon class, Harry, Su, Lily, Dudley and Neville searched the school for their friend, whom they finally found in the girls' toilet.

"Please try to convince her to not listen to what Ron said and to come and attend dinner together with us," Harry instructed the girls.

"Will do," Lily and Su promised and entered the washroom to talk to Hermione, while the three boys waited outside.

It took ages, at least in Harry's opinion, for the girls to convince Hermione, and while they were waiting, the boys spoke about Ron Weasley and if they should have a word with the boy on Hermione's behalf.

"Why speak with him? He's much too thick and disinterested in anything but food to understand us anyway," Dudley finally said. "I'd rather think we should prank him."

Neville and Harry laughed, and the three boys engrossed themselves in an eager conversation about possible pranks, so that they did not realise what happened before they suddenly felt themselves face to face with a mountain troll that made them back up into the girls' toilet.

"Harry, Neville, Dudley," Su began to scold them, only to shut up upon realising just what had the boys made come inside.

Together, the six friends began to cast all possible charms and spells at the troll that came into their mind. However, even if they managed to make the troll stumble and bleed from several cuts in his arms and legs, it took a six-fold powerful stunning spell to get the troll to succumb to it.

"Thank Merlin," Harry said, looking at his friends. "I'd say we go and clean up and then attend the feast. Maybe we can still get something to eat."

"First of all, we should notify the professors about the troll," Lily added, looking at the other girls when she mouthed, "Boys."

To Harry's relief, they did not even have to go into the Great Hall in their dirty attire but met McGonagall, Dumbledore and Severus on their way.

"Where do you think you're going?" McGonagall asked, strictly. "Did you not hear that everyone was instructed to remain in the Great Hall?"

"I'm sorry, Professor," Hermione was the first to reply. "We girls had something to discuss, and the boys were looking out for us."

"We didn't know that we were supposed to remain in the Great Hall. We were just going to attend the Halloween feast," Lily added.

"The troll is stunned on the girls' bathroom floor by the way," Su informed the professors, who cast her incredulous looks.

While Severus waved his wand casting cleaning spells at the six of them, the headmaster opened the door to the girls' toilet and uttered, "Fifty points to Gryffindor for doing the Defence Against the Dark Art professor's job."

HP

When the six friends had wondered in the evening where the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was, when he was supposed to get rid of the troll, they noticed in the morning that Professor Quirrell was limping.

"Maybe he had an encounter with the three-headed dog," Dudley whispered, when they made their way to the greenhouses for their Herbology class, making the others look at him in surprise.

"Why would anyone go near that thing?" Hermione asked, incredulously.

HP

"Perhaps it's guarding something, a forbidden corridor or a valuable item or the like," Su replied, thoughtfully.

"That might be, but I wonder what he could be guarding," Harry spoke up, pensively.

"Who's guarding wha'?" a deep voice suddenly interrupted their conversation.

"Ah, hi Hagrid," the friends replied, simultaneously, smiling at the always friendly half-giant.

"We were just wondering where they're keeping a three-headed dog in the school and if it's guarding something," Hermione blurted out, giving Hagrid a questioning look.

"Fluffy?" Hagrid asked, causing the six to roll their eyes in annoyance at the surprising name. "Fluffy is mine," he added, "but I can't tell you what he's guarding. Tha's between Dumbledore and Flamel."

"Flamel?" Hermione asked, eagerly.

"Ahh, shouldn' have said tha'," Hagrid mumbled and hurriedly went his way.

"Flamel as in Nicholas Flamel?" Lily wondered, when they entered the greenhouse.

HP

After the last afternoon class, the six retired to the founders' living room, where Lily explained to the others about Nicholas Flamel, the famous alchemist who was known for his development of the Philosopher's Stone.

"So that's what Fluffy is guarding?" Harry asked, incredulously. "Why's that thing even at Hogwarts?"

"You can easily ban Fluffy from Hogwarts," Su spoke up, shrugging.

"Well, yes, I could," Harry replied, impatiently, "but more than that I'd like to know why he's at the school and who placed him here. Oh well, Dumbledore I suppose," he added, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

HP

If Harry had not really trusted Professor Quirrell ever since discovering his strange auras, his suspicions that something was off with the professor became confirmed after the first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor versus Slytherin.

During the match, his broom suddenly began to act extremely strange, and Harry was completely unable to control it – until everything returned back to normal. Only after catching the Snitch winning the game for Gryffindor, he learned that Professor Quirrell had been jinxing his broom, while Severus had obviously been casting a counter curse.

"First, I only saw Professor Snape cast something and was wondering why, before I saw Quirrell casting, too," Hermione said, grinning. "Then I ended the spook by setting Quirrell's robes on fire," she informed Harry, much to their friends' amusement.

"Quirrell's aura is extremely strange," Harry admitted to his friends, once they left the victory party in the common room and headed to the founders' quarters, where they spent more and more time.

"In what way strange?" Su enquired, causing Harry to sigh.

"I only saw it once," he admitted and told his friends about Quirrell's two auras. "I need to come close enough to him to check his aura again," he finally resolved.

"Just be very careful around him," Lily warned him.

"Especially since you know now that he wants to harm you," Hermione added in clear concern.

"You shouldn't be alone around him at all," Dudley instructed his cousin.

"I will be careful," Harry promised. _'I could just fire Quirrell, but maybe it's better to keep him here at Hogwarts under Dumbledore's and Severus' control. At least Severus must know now that he wants to harm me,'_ he thought, feeling slightly reassured by the fact.

HP

Almost too soon for Harry's liking, the Winter holidays approached, and his friends had to return home for Christmas.

 _'_ _Oh well, at least I have Dudley here with me,'_ Harry thought when he returned from seeing his friends off to the station in Hogsmeade. _'We should use the holidays to try to find out some more about the three-headed dog.'_

Harry and Dudley decided to remain in Gryffindor over the holidays instead of returning to their respective rooms. One reason was that the Weasley twins along with their brother Ron were staying over the holidays, and even if they did not overly like Ron, they were still good friends with the twins. The main reason, however, was that they preferred their dormitory to their separate rooms within their different guardians' quarters.

"It's much more fun to be together," they decided, unanimously.

HP

One evening, they waited until Ron was fast asleep, before they made themselves invisible and headed to see Fluffy. Popping themselves into the corridor where they knew the dog to be residing, they opened the door obviously leading to his room with a quick Alohomora spell and curiously looked inside, careful to stay as far from the dog as necessary to remain safe.

"Harry, look!" Dudley suddenly exclaimed. "He's sitting on a trap door."

"So what?" Harry asked, incredulously. "The Philosopher's stone is hidden under the trap door? Why would the headmaster do such a thing? Why doesn't Nicholas Flamel hide his stone at his home or find a safe place for it? A school with hundreds of children living here surely isn't an adequate place. On the contrary, it endangers everyone, as we don't know who might get to know about the matter and try to steal it."

"True," Dudley agreed. "But if you asked Dumbledore to remove the stone and the dog, he'd only tell you that you're too young to understand and that it's all for the Greater Good."

"Yes," Harry moaned, sighing. "Maybe we should just write to Mr. Flamel and ask him to remove the stone, telling him that it's not safe here," he then suggested.

"Maybe that's a good idea. We should wait for the others to come back and have Hermione help with the letter," Dudley voiced his opinion.

"Or Lily. She's quite good at such things, too," Harry added.

With that decision in mind, the cousins headed back in the direction of the Giant Staircase, when they suddenly heard voices.

Quickly making sure that they were still invisible to everyone but each other, the boys quietly walked ahead.

"Shall we just pop back?" Dudley whispered, however, Harry decided otherwise.

"No, I think one of them is Quirrell," he informed his cousin, noticing that his head hurt like it often did when Quirrell was around. "I want to know who's with him."

Dudley agreed, and the boys carefully passed the point, where Professor Quirrell was speaking with no other than Severus.

"As I said, Quirinus, you need to sort your priorities. It won't do you any good attacking the owner of Hogwarts again," they heard Severus say.

Overwhelmed by the pain in his head due to being so close to the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Harry instinctively fled and only stopped running, when his headache receded fully.

"Harry?" Dudley asked with a combination of surprise and concern, once he stopped behind Harry, trying to catch his breath.

"Sorry," Harry apologized and explained about the headache that the professor often caused him. "Where are we, by the way? We've never come here before."

Dudley chuckled. "Cool," he said, "let's check out this corridor. Maybe we've missed something interesting."

Carefully opening the next door on the left side, they found himself in a large room, which was fairly dusty, almost as if it had not been used for a long time. The faint light of the almost full moon came through the large windows, slightly illuminating the room.

"Look here," Dudley suddenly said in apparent excitement, waving Harry over.


	9. Chapter 9

**Soul Phoenix**  
 **by Healer Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. Rating M for multiple character deaths throughout this story.**

 _It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.  
_ _Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind feedback on the previous chapter!_

* * *

Harry carefully walked over to where Dudley was standing in front of what seemed to be a mirror.

 _'_ _No, it's not a mirror,'_ he quickly realised. _'What is it?'_ He saw himself standing in what seemed to be the founders' living room surrounded by his five friends and Draco as well as Severus, Remus, Petunia and Sybill. _'They're not here though. Why can I see them?'_ he wondered, when Dudley brought him out of his musings.

"Harry, this is too cool," he blurted out. "I see myself as a dog spending the night of the full moon together with Remus in his wolf form and you in your phoenix form. I'm a dog Animagus!"

"Then you need to really practise to become one," Harry replied, feeling very happy for his cousin. "Maybe the mirror shows us the future."

"What do you see?" Dudley suddenly asked.

"I see the two of us being in the founders' quarters together with our friends and family," Harry explained, matter-of-factly.

"So it might be the future," Dudley replied, pensively. "Maybe it can teach me how to become a dog. Let's come back here in the morning when it's a bit brighter than now."

Harry immediately agreed, and the two boys popped themselves back right into their dormitory, hoping that Ron had not woken up noticing that they had been gone for a while.

HP

In the morning, the cousins talked about the strange mirror and suddenly decided to just ask the adults about it.

At breakfast, Harry addressed Severus, who was sitting next to him. "Yesterday, Dudley and I were exploring some unused part of the castle when we came to a strange mirror," he said and explained what they saw in the mirror.

While Severus quirked an eyebrow, making Harry understand that he knew nothing about it, Dumbledore leaned forward to face the boys.

"That, my boys, was the Mirror of Erised," he replied and explained, "It displays nothing but your greatest desire. It neither shows you the future nor is it able to help you achieve what you saw in it. It's a very dangerous artefact which can make people addicted but doesn't do any good. I will move it to a different place today. Please do not go looking for it."

"We won't," Harry and Dudley promised, sincerely.

"It's all right, Dudley. I'll help you with the Animagus transformation," Harry whispered to his cousin in a soothing voice.

"Yes please," Dudley replied, eagerly. "Even if the mirror doesn't display the future, it has somehow encouraged me that I'll manage the Animagus transformation."

From that time onwards, Harry made Dudley practise the Animagus transformation twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening.

HP

Two days later was the full moon, and Severus asked Harry if he had time and was willing to assist with the brewing of the Wolfsbane potion.

"Of course," Harry replied, indignantly. ' _How could he assume that I wouldn't assist,'_ he thought in annoyance.

The brewing of the Wolfsbane took almost the whole day with a couple of small breaks when the potion had to simmer.

During one of these times, Harry spoke with Severus about auras. He explained how he had been surprised noticing that Percy Weasley had two auras when he first came to Hogwarts and that he had only found out later that the boy had probably been carrying around his pet rat. He then explained how he had managed to change the rat's yellow and black with the green frame to yellow and black with a pink frame, causing Severus to smirk.

"You made him a Squib, right?" he asked in apparent amusement.

"Oh well, I hope so, Harry replied. "I'm not sure though, as I had thought if its rat form was an Animagus form he'd automatically change back to his human form, provided that he has one. He didn't though. Oh well, why I'm telling you all of his," he got back to the point, "is that Professor Quirrell also has two auras. Always though, so I don't know if he's permanently carrying around a pet with him."

Seeing that Severus was listening with apparent interest, Harry continued, "Quirrell's auras are grey with the green frame as well as black with a green frame which is speckled with red. From all that I know, red is the colour of ghosts. At least the ghosts here at Hogwarts all have red auras or, well, a red frame around black, grey or white."

Severus cast the boy a horrified look. "Harry," he slowly began to speak, "I've been suspecting Professor Quirrell for a while now, especially after he openly attacked you during the Quidditch match. I believe that he's possessed by the spirit of the Dark Lord. So far, I could not find any proof for my belief, however, the red aura is evidence enough that it has to be a spirit that's with him."

"All right," Harry said, slowly. "Then I'll try to focus on him during the next Defence Against the Dark Arts classes and try to change his green-red frame to pink. Will that do?"

"I'm not sure," Severus replied, thoughtfully brushing an errand strand of hair from his cheek. "I suggest that you ask Ceridwen about it. Maybe you'll have to just vanish the green and the red completely if that's possible. I suppose that it would made his spirit die then, but as I don't know much about auras, Ceridwen would be much better to help you."

"Okay, I'll ask her. Thank you so much for listening and believing me," Harry replied, smiling.

"Harry?" Severus asked in a soft voice. "Why would I not believe you?"

"Because neither Ceridwen nor Remus believed me when I told them about the rat being an Animagus," Harry said in a small voice, before they returned to the final step of the Wolfsbane.

HP

As soon as the Wolfsbane was finished, Harry made his way to Remus', Sybill's and his own rooms to speak with Ceridwen. Confirming in relief that the living room was empty, as he really wanted to speak with his grandmother in private, he lowered himself to the floor and informed Ceridwen about Professor Quirrell's auras and his conversation with Severus.

"Severus is right," Ceridwen said, pensively. "You have to get rid of the green and red frame. The problem is that you must proceed very slowly. Otherwise, the possessor might notice something and in return attack you, and the possessed person is an adult, thus far more experienced in a fight than you."

"I'll do it very slowly," Harry promised. "I can't do much at once anyway, or I'm going to deplete my magic. In the case of the rat, I did it in many sessions, but the originally green frame is completely pink now."

"Please check occasionally that it remains pink," Ceridwen advised him, causing Harry to stare at her in shock, before he promised to check the rat on a regular basis.

HP

Finally, the other students came back to Hogwarts, and right after the welcoming banquet, Harry and Dudley gathered their friends in the living room of the founders to tell them about the trapdoor that Fluffy was guarding and about the plan to write to Nicholas Flamel asking him to consider removing the stone from the castle.

Hermione and Lily promised to help Harry write his letter, however, postponed the matter to the following afternoon, stating that curfew was going to commence soon and it would not do well to get into trouble before school had even begun again.

HP

Twenty hours later, Harry sat at the desk in the office of the founders' quarters with Lily and Hermione occupying the chairs on each side of him.

"Harry, you should ask him to not tell Dumbledore about the matter before talking to you, as we don't really trust Dumbledore," Neville advised him from where their friends were observing the scene.

"All right," Harry agreed and began to write according to Hermione's and Lily's dictations.

 _'_ _Dear Mr. Flamel,  
Please excuse me for suddenly writing to you. My friends and I have found out that a Cerberus has been placed into our school, just behind a door which can be opened with a simple Alohomora spell, to guard your Philosopher's Stone.  
We believe that this setting is much too dangerous for the hundreds of students in this school. Apart from this, your stone is anything but safe here. One of our professors seems to be possessed by the spirit of Voldemort, and we can well imagine that he is more than eager to lay his hands on your stone._

 _For all these reasons, we would appreciate it if you could consider removing your stone from our school, and as the owner of Hogwarts, I would like to discuss the matter with you in private before alerting Headmaster Dumbledore to this conversation. Frankly speaking, I don't trust him to have the students' best interests in mind._

 _We can meet in the founders' quarters at Hogwarts at any time during the weekend which is convenient for you._

 _Best regards  
Harry Potter  
Owner of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry'_

"That's great Harry," Neville voiced, once Harry had read the letter aloud.

"Shall I take it to the owlery?" Su offered, causing Harry to smile.

"Thanks Su, but I think I'm going to change into my phoenix form and deliver the letter myself," he decided and, seeing his friends nod in agreement, transformed.

"Be careful, Harry," Lily advised him.

Harry gave her a sharp nod and let out a small series of comforting trills, before he took the parchment into his beak and flashed away, thinking of Nicholas Flamel as he departed.

An instant later, he arrived in what seemed to be the living room of a large manor. A man and a woman were sitting on a comfortable looking sofa reading books. Harry hovered in front of the man and took the letter into his right foot, holding it out to him.

"Is that for me?" the man, who seemed much younger than Harry had imagined him, asked in a soft voice.

#Yes# Harry replied, nodding his head.

"Thank you," Flamel said, as he carefully took the letter from Harry's foot.

"My you're a beautiful bird," his wife commented. "Are you some kind of phoenix?"

Harry bobbed his head up and down and let out a series of happy trills.

"Nicholas, have you ever seen such kind of phoenix?" the lady then enquired.

"No, I haven't," her husband replied. "From what I read in the books, I believe that he must be a soul phoenix though. They're rarer than any other kind of phoenix. About one in a millennium."

 _'_ _He must be very wise,'_ Harry thought. _'No one at Hogwarts but Fawkes and of course Ceridwen and probably the other founders would know such a thing.'_ He trilled a good-bye, seeing that Nicholas engrossed himself in his letter, and flashed back to Hogwarts.

"Done," he said to his friends, who were waiting for him in the living room.

HP

As early as the following morning at breakfast, a beautiful snowy owl approached Harry offering him a letter. Harry carefully took it off the owl's foot and gently fed the animal a piece of bacon, before he opened the letter in excitement. It was from Nicholas Flamel.

 _'_ _Dear Mr. Potter,  
Thank you so very much for your letter containing valuable information. I'd like to visit you, together with my wife Perenelle, coming Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Please inform me if this is convenient for you and tell me the name of the fireplace that we can use without attracting the headmaster's attention.  
Yours sincerely  
Nicholas Flamel  
P.S. May I congratulate you on your beautiful phoenix, which I suppose is a soul phoenix? A gorgeous animal!'_

Seeing that the snowy owl seemed to be waiting for a response, Harry quickly reached into his book bag for a piece of parchment and a quill and scribbled as tidily as he could manage.

 _'Dear Mr. Flamel,  
I look forward to seeing you on Saturday. The name of the fireplace is 'Hogwarts Founders Quarters'.  
Best greetings and please give my regards to your wife  
Harry Potter'_

 _'_ _Flamel and his wife seem really nice,'_ Harry thought, as he attached his parchment to the owl's leg and quickly pocketed the letter from Mr. Flamel. _'Dumbledore would kill me for this though – if he knew.'_

HP

Harry could not wait for Saturday to arrive, as he was really looking forward to his conversation with Nicholas Flamel. However, he consoled himself with the task of trying to change Voldemort's aura during his Defence Against the Dark Arts class.

This, however, was extremely difficult. It was not as if the professor would remain seated at his desk, unmoving, but if anyone came between him and Harry, Harry would not be able to manipulate his aura. It could even become extremely dangerous if anyone stepped between them.

 _'_ _I must be quick, and I must put a lot of magic into it, even if not too much,'_ he thought, feeling extremely uncomfortable at the task at hand.

The chance arrived on Friday morning, when Harry was sitting between Lily and Draco in the first row and Dudley involved the professor into a longer conversation about the question how to efficiently fight a mountain troll. Hermione and Su assisted Dudley, and the professor remained standing not far from Harry for about ten minutes – long enough for Harry to make a first attempt at meddling with the possessor's aura.

He concentrated on the green frame that was speckled with red using his wish magic to change the green to pink. To his relief, he succeeded in one go, and the frame was now a mixture of pink and red. _'Next time, I'll try to vanish the pinkish red frame,'_ he resolved and nodded, unobtrusively, for his friends to know that they could stop questioning Quirrell.

"That was fast, Harry," Lily commented, when they finally left the classroom. "Are you getting the knack of it?"

"I hope so," Harry replied, grinning. "Oh well, I practised a lot with that stupid rat."

"It's a very valuable ability to harm your enemies," Hermione spoke up, seemingly impressed.

"Oh well, I just hope it'll work before he realises what I'm doing," Harry breathed, sighing deeply.

"In the worst case, you must transform into your phoenix form and flash away immediately," Su instructed him, causing Harry to nod.

"Tomorrow morning, the Flamels are going to come," he changed the topic. "Will you all join us in the living room?"

"Of course, I can't wait to meet them," Hermione blurted out. "They're more than six hundred years old. They surely have interesting stories to tell."

Everyone else agreed, and Harry felt very much reassured by his friends' presence, when they were sitting in the founders' living room waiting for the fireplace to flare the following morning.

Punctually at ten o'clock, the fireplace sprang to life, and Nicholas Flamel stepped out, immediately followed by his wife.

Harry stood to greet his guests, before he introduced his friends as well as the founders and motioned the Flamels to take a seat.

"I can't recall having seen you around," Helga spoke up, giving the Flamels a sharp look.

Mrs. Flamel smiled at the portrait. "No Madame, we both attended Beauxbatons."

"Much to our regret, as Hogwarts seems to be a wonderful school," her husband added.

In the meantime, Harry called Gina and asked the elf for some refreshments, which appeared on the table an instant later.

"Mr. Flamel," he addressed his guest and came straight to the point. "I'm sorry for suddenly writing to you. However, I thought that the situation was inadequate and needed to be solved one way or the other, preferably not involving the headmaster until the last minute."

Flamel let out a deep sigh. "You must know that Albus Dumbledore is an old friend of mine," he began to explain. "At one time, he even was my student. Anyway, Albus told Perenelle and me that he feared that the stone might not be safe at our home and promised to keep it safe for us. As far as I know, he had it in a vault at Gringotts, however, moved it to a, as he said, safer, secret place last summer. We didn't know that he kept it at Hogwarts, which is of course inacceptable, especially if guarded by a Cerberus."

"Yes sir," Harry agreed, nodding.

"I will speak with Albus and ask him to hand me the stone," Flamel added. "Now as to what you wrote about one of the professors being possessed by Voldemort," he continued, "does the headmaster know about this?"

Harry scoffed. "I'd believe that a headmaster, let alone one as famous as Albus Dumbledore, should know exactly what's happening in the school that he's supposed to keep safe. I'd rather not speak with him, as he uses to just shrug things off with a grandfatherly smile and the words 'It's all for the Greater Good'."

"I understand," Flamel replied, smiling. "If so, why don't you speak with Amelia Bones, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement? I'm sure she could help you with the possessed professor."

"Mr. and Mrs. Flamel, may I rely on your secrecy if I tell you something that should not be generally known?" Harry asked, and, while he would have contented himself with a verbal promise, the Flamels immediately raised their wands to swear an oath that they'd keep his secret.

"The soul phoenix, which you saw the other day," Harry hesitantly explained, "is not my familiar. It's my Animagus form." Ignoring the Flamels' gasp, he quickly transformed into his phoenix form and back before continuing, "As a soul phoenix, I'm able to see and tamper with auras. At the moment, I'm trying to change Voldemort's aura in a way as to eliminate him from Professor Quirrell and turn him harmless."

"Ah," Flamel said in apparent understanding. "That must be the power he knows not." Realising that Harry eyed him in confusion, he enquired, "I suppose that you know about the prophecy, Mr. Potter?"

"Prophecy?" Harry asked in bewilderment.

"Yes," Flamel confirmed, sighing. "There's a prophecy that has been made about you and Voldemort. I don't know the exact wording, but the meaning is that you're the only one able to vanquish Voldemort by a power he doesn't know. I wonder why Albus didn't tell you this, as he was the one who recited it to me. It was made shortly before you were born and apparently was the reason why Voldemort went after your family."

"Dumbledore told me nothing," Harry replied, angrily. "Thank you very much for informing me about the prophecy. I really appreciate it."

After some chit-chat about various matters, the Flamels finally stepped back into the fireplace to return home – not after reassuring Harry that he would be welcome to contact them if he needed help with anything.

HP

"That went well," Hermione stated, once their guests were gone.

"Oh well, I wonder if Dumbledore is willingly going to return the stone to Flamel and to get rid of the Cerberus," Dudley replied, wearing a doubtful expression.

"We'll have to wait for Flamel's owl to know," Harry said, calmly. "I'm rather shocked about that prophecy. How could Dumbledore not tell me about something that important?"

"He's a total git," Su commented. "He should have trained you from an early time onwards."

"I'm done with Dumbledore, really," Harry said, angrily. "Maybe we should ask Madam Bones for her opinion about having a Cerberus at the school."

"She's Susan's aunt and very nice," Lily informed him, smiling. "At least if Dumbledore doesn't agree to remove the stone and the dog, we should do so."

"All right," Harry agreed and called his house-elf. "Gina, please keep an eye on the corridor where Fluffy is placed. If Professor Quirrell ever comes near that corridor, please inform me immediately," he instructed the elf.

"Yes Master Harry," Gina promised with eagerness.

"So at least we don't have to worry about the stone for the time being," Harry said, contentedly.

"I just hope Flamel will contact Dumbledore right away, so that we can forget about the whole matter as soon as possible," Hermione spoke up, letting out a sigh of clear annoyance.

HP

Two days later, Harry received a message from Nicholas Flamel informing him that he had conducted a longer conversation with Dumbledore, but that he had not managed yet to convince the headmaster. He promised however, that he was not going to rest until Dumbledore would promise to return the stone to him.

Unfortunately, it was just a couple of days later that Gina popped into Harry's dormitory, when Harry was just about to drift off to sleep.

"Master Harry, Professor Quirrell is approaching Fluffy," the elf informed him.

"Thank you Gina," Harry replied, urgently, before he waved Dudley and Neville over and quickly informed his friends. "Neville, please fetch Remus and Severus, Dudley, come with me," he instructed them, before he made himself invisible and popped away, feeling relieved to see that Dudley accompanied him.

When they appeared in the corridor, Professor Quirrell was just casting "Alohomora" and stepped into the Cerberus' room.

Dudley immediately began to fire the couple of curses that the first-years had learned by now, while Harry concentrated on Voldemort's aura and with a strong bout of magic tried to completely vanish the pinkish-red part. Just before he collapsed, unconscious, due to the depletion of his magic, Harry noticed that Quirrell's turban came off.

HP

Dudley looked at the half-empty head with bewilderment, sighing in relief, when Neville arrived with Remus and Severus in tow just an instant later.

"Dudley, what happened?" Severus asked, urgently, looking at Harry's and Quirrell's unconscious figures.

"Harry worked on Voldemort's aura until they both collapsed and Quirrell's turban suddenly came off," Dudley stammered, giving his cousin a frightened look. "Will Harry be all right, sir?"

Severus nodded. "He probably merely depleted his magic. We need to wake him up and ask what happened to Voldemort. Perhaps he's gone now, but only Harry will be able to assess that." He pointed his wand at the boy, casting, "Enervate."

"Harry," Severus addressed the boy, as soon as he stirred. "I'm sorry for waking you up. Can you just once check Professor Quirrell's aura, please?"

"Just grey and green now," Harry mumbled in exhaustion. "I think I got rid of Voldemort's spirit."

"You surely did," Severus confirmed. "Congratulations, Harry."

HP

When Harry's mind returned to consciousness the next time, he found himself lying in a bed in the hospital wing. It was fairly dark around him. Only two torches were lit at the far end of the room. He could make out a tall figure sitting on a chair next to his bed.

"Severus?" he whispered, causing the older wizard to wake up.

"Harry," Severus replied, sounding relieved. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Harry said, glad that it was too dark for Severus to see that he rolled his eyes in annoyance at the unnecessary question. "Is Voldemort really gone now?"

Severus remained quiet for a moment, before he replied, seemingly hesitant, "For the time being, he's gone, thanks to you. But I don't think that he's really gone yet. I have no idea how he managed to come back, but I believe that he'll do the same thing again. Perhaps, the headmaster knows, but…"

"Sorry Severus, but I don't trust Dumbledore at all," Harry interrupted the older wizard. "He didn't even tell me about something as important as the prophecy."

"You know about the prophecy," Severus stated more than he asked in apparent surprise.

"You know about it then," Harry stated, trying to keep his voice void of anger.

"Yes, I knew about it, but the headmaster forbade me to speak about it with anyone," Severus said, apologetically.

"Nicholas Flamel told me about it," Harry replied and informed his mentor about his conversation with the old wizard.

"Harry, maybe it would be wise if you asked Mr. Flamel if he knew how the Dark Lord managed to come back," Severus suggested. "Perhaps he came across something like this during his long life."

"That's a good idea," Harry agreed. "I'll write to him."

"There's something else about which I'd like to speak with you if you're not too tired," Severus stated, seemingly hesitating.

"It's fine, sir," Harry replied, looking at the professor in expectation.

"So far, I've made you brew potions for Aunt Poppy during your Potions class," Severus slowly began to explain, "however, there are methods that would see to it that you'd be rewarded for doing the same thing. One way would be to make you my so-called student assistant. If you brewed potions for the hospital wing or, for example, helped with the grading of homework as my student assistant, you'd either receive money or privileges for your work."

Harry shook his head. "I don't need anything," he then replied. "Apart from that, Aunt Poppy always gives me house points when I bring her a batch. Gryffindor is far ahead of the other houses because of that," he added, grinning.

"And you think it's wise to tell the Slytherin head about that?" Severus asked, smirking.

"Oh well…" Harry moaned, sheepishly. In fact, he had completely forgotten that Severus was the head of Slytherin. For him, he was just his mentor, just like Remus.

"Another way would be to make you my apprentice," Severus continued. "You'd specialise in Potions and would otherwise only take the main subjects."

"I'd like that," Harry replied, thoughtfully. "Although, I guess that as the owner of Hogwarts, I should probably experience all classes to make sure that everything is all right."

"That's a valuable point," Severus agreed and suggested, "You could still become my apprentice after taking your OWLs in all subjects."

"Yes, that would be great," Harry concurred. "Thank you so much for giving me that choice, sir."

Severus slightly inclined his head, just when Poppy strode into the room. Only now did Harry realise that it had already become light in the meantime.

HP

Poppy released Harry right before dinner, and Harry spent the evening together with his friends in the founders' living room discussing the newest events.

"Professor Quirrell is at St. Mungo's, so we don't have Defence Against the Dark Arts classes for the time being," Hermione informed him.

"I was thinking of writing to my father," Draco spoke up, smirking. "Maybe he could try to get one of the Aurors to teach us until Dumbledore sees fit to hire someone else. Or does any of you know anyone who'd be able to teach?"

"No Draco, and thanks a lot for your offer to ask your father for help," Harry replied, gratefully. "Perhaps I should rather write to Amelia Bones myself though and ask her if she can lend us one of her Aurors," he then said, pensively.

"That's better," Lily immediately agreed, causing everyone else to nod their heads in approval.

"All right then, Lily and Hermione, will you help me again?" Harry asked, grinning, as he strode over to the office and sat at the desk with the two girls on either side.

Five minutes later, their letter was ready.

 _'_ _Dear Madam Bones,  
As you might have heard, Professor Quirrell is currently in St. Mungo's, and Hogwarts is lacking a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Do you perhaps have one of the Aurors to spare for a while, who would be willing to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts until we can find a new professor?  
Any help in this hindsight would be very welcome. Thank you very much in advance.  
Yours sincerely  
Harry Potter  
Owner of Hogwarts'_

"Are you going to take it there yourself?" Su enquired, giving Harry a questioning look.

Harry sighed. "I'm afraid not, as I'm not supposed to do any magic for a week," he moaned.

"Give it to me," Dudley offered. "I'll take it to the owlery."

"Thanks Dudley," Harry replied, gratefully handing the letter to his cousin. "Be careful that you're back on time. Curfew is going to begin soon," he warned the boy upon a glance at his wrist watch.

"I'll accompany you. I should return to my common room anyway," Draco spoke up.

"Draco," Harry spoke up in a soft voice. "Why don't you bring Blaise with you tomorrow? Or Millicent? They're both very welcome to join us."

"Thanks Harry, I'll ask them," Draco replied and hurried after Dudley.

"It must be strange for him to be the only Slytherin among six Gryffindors," Harry explained, noticing his friends' surprised looks.

HP

The instant Harry stepped into his dormitory behind Neville, Ron Weasley cornered him.

"Harry, can I borrow your invisibility cloak tonight?"

"Sure," Harry replied, shrugging. ' _Just don't lose too many house points,'_ he thought, as he fetched the invisibility cloak out of his trunk, wondering what mischief the boy was going to get into this time.


	10. Chapter 10

**Soul Phoenix**  
 **by Healer Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. Rating M for multiple character deaths throughout this story.**

 _It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.  
_ _Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind feedback on the previous chapter!_

* * *

When Harry and his friends headed to breakfast the following morning, Professor McGonagall caught up with him at the entrance door to the Great Hall.

"Mr. Potter, follow me for a moment," she said in a crisp voice that made Harry wonder what he might have done to anger the professor. She led him into the antechamber to the Great Hall and firmly closed the door behind her. "Mr. Potter, where have you been last night after curfew?" she asked, sternly.

"In bed," Harry replied in confusion. "I was asleep."

The professor sighed. "I don't know what you've been doing last night, however, you will serve detention with Mr. Filch tonight," she informed him, causing Harry to stare at his head of house, wide-eyed.

"Mr. Filch heard voices from the Astronomy tower and, whilst he could not catch anyone, he found your invisibility cloak," McGonagall explained. "Apparently, you forgot it when you left in a hurry," she added, before she dismissed Harry.

 _'_ _That wasn't me, that was Ron,'_ Harry's mind screamed, but he could not bring himself to give away his housemate. He slowly made his way over to the Gryffindor table and informed his friends that he had to serve detention that evening.

"But why?" Dudley asked in clear disbelief, when Harry told them the story. "It was Ron and Seamus who used your invisibility cloak, not you."

"Ronald," Lily spoke up. "I believe that you should go to Professor McGonagall and tell her that it was you who was out of bed after curfew using the invisibility cloak."

"Why would I do that?" Ronald replied, shrugging.

"Perhaps so that Harry wouldn't have to serve detention in spite of being innocent?" Hermione lectured him, sounding very upset.

"What did you do anyway?" Neville enquired.

"Hagrid got a dragon baby from someone, and we handed it to Charlie last night, because it was too dangerous for Hagrid to keep it in his hut," Seamus explained. "It was pretty cool."

Inwardly groaning in annoyance, Harry took a few bites of his breakfast, not noticing that Dudley and Neville rose from their seats and headed over to the head table. He only looked up when Professor McGonagall's voice penetrated his ears.

"Mr. Weasley, Mr. Finnegan, have you been on the Astronomy tower last night using Mr. Potter's invisibility cloak?" the teacher asked in a strict voice.

The boys reluctantly admitted that it was true, apparently knowing that all of Harry's friends would tell against them.

"Fifty points each from Gryffindor for acting against the rules and not telling immediately when someone else was falsely accused and detention with Mr. Filch tonight," McGonagall added, sounding very upset. "Mr. Potter, of course you don't have to serve detention," she added in a much friendlier voice, turning to Harry. "Come to my office after the last afternoon class to retrieve your invisibility cloak."

"All right Professor," Harry breathed in relief, feeling very grateful for his friends who had stood up for him.

HP

At breakfast the following morning, Harry received two letters, one from Amelia Bones and one from Nicholas Flamel. He opened the one from Amelia Bones first.

 _'_ _Dear Mr. Potter,  
Thank you for suggesting to use an Auror as the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. I found that it was a good idea, however, when I contacted the headmaster this morning suggesting one of my Junior Aurors, he told me that there was no need to fill the post for the remaining four weeks of the school year and that he already had someone in mind for the upcoming school year.  
Best regards  
Amelia Bones  
Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcment'_

"Why would she talk to Dumbledore?" Harry blurted out in annoyance, as he handed the letter to Lily, who was sitting on his right side. "And why would we need a new professor at the beginning of next year if we could get one now?" he asked, incredulously.

"Maybe it has to do something with the curse that's on the Defence position," Neville whispered. "It's cursed so that no professor can stay longer than a school year. Apparently, Voldemort cursed it many years ago."

"We'll speak to Hogwarts about that tonight," Harry replied, pensively. "Maybe she's able to do something to break the curse."

 _'_ _I just hope that this one is better news,'_ he thought, as he reached for the parchment from Nicholas Flamel.

 _'_ _Dear Mr. Potter,  
thank you for your information.  
First of all, I am pleased to inform you that Albus Dumbledore has now returned the stone to Perenelle and me. Please accept my apology for not being aware what danger it presented to the students of Hogwarts.  
Secondly, ad hoc I don't have an idea. Please allow me some time for research about the matter. I might also enlist the help of some goblins and elves with whom I'm familiar. As soon as I'll be able to find out something, I will contact you again.  
Best regards  
Nicholas Flamel'_

HP

The first years' first morning class was Wizarding Etiquette, and after the class, Professor Longbottom, who – at least in Harry's and his friends' opinion – was a very good teacher, kept Harry back.

"Harry," she addressed the boy, whom she had known well since the age of six, "please tell Neville that I'm very proud of him."

"Because he stood up for me this morning?" Harry asked, smiling. "I'll tell him, Professor. He'll be thrilled to hear that."

HP

After the last afternoon class, the six friends headed – as usual – to the founders' quarters. However, instead of making themselves comfortable in the living room, where they used to work on their assignments, they headed into the Parlour to speak with Hogwarts, leaving the door to the living room open, so that the founders were able to follow their conversation.

"Hogwarts," Harry addressed the castle, looking at one part of the ceiling, on which he always automatically concentrated, when he spoke to her. "We have a problem and were wondering if you'd be able to help us."

"Let me hear about it," Hogwarts replied in her soft voice. "What's wrong?"

"Are you aware that there's a curse on the Defence Against the Dark Arts position?" Harry enquired.

Hogwarts let out a long sigh. "Yes, I am aware of the matter, but frankly speaking I don't comprehend why this might be such a problem."

"Because…" Harry began to clarify, however, trailed off to stare at the ceiling in expectation, knowing that he would not have to explain anything to the castle, who naturally knew everything that occurred between her powerful walls.

"The curse has been there for fifty years, and no one had an idea to remedy the problem? This is ridiculous," Hogwarts replied in what sounded like exasperation. "You know Harry, I'm not talking about you and your friends, but all the professors who have been teaching here during the last fifty years," she added, gently.

"Err Hogwarts… What can we do?" Harry asked in confusion.

HP

Hogwarts chuckled. "A simple change of the title of the subject, for example to just "Defence" along with a change of the classroom, the teacher's office and the adjacent quarters would suffice," she informed Harry, who stared at her in disbelief.

"Are you sure?" he blurted out, before he apologised. "Sorry Hogwarts, if anyone knows what to do, it's you of course. All right then, we'll see to it. Thank you so much for your help."

Hogwarts chuckled. "Wait and please give me a moment," she told him.

Harry and his friends waited in silence, more or less patiently, until Hogwarts spoke up again two minutes later. "It's done," she informed them. "I got rid of the curse."

"You… So that means, it is lifted and we don't have to change anything?" Harry enquired, just to be sure.

"Exactly dear," the castle confirmed.

"Oh Hogwarts, thank you so much. You really are the best," Harry blurted out in amazement.

"Any time, Harry," Hogwarts replied in clear amusement. "Thanks for taking good care of my school, better than anyone did during the last fifty years."

HP

The friends quietly returned to the living room, where they discussed the matter.

"I wonder why the headmaster never did anything about the position," Neville was the first to speak. "It can't be so difficult to come up with the idea of changing the name of the class as well as the rooms now, can it?"

"Not really," Su confirmed.

"So Harry, what are we going to do now?" Dudley enquired. "Will you inform Madam Bones?"

"Well, the easiest way would be to speak with Dumbledore, but since I don't trust him to have the school's best interest in mind…" Harry slowly trailed off, when a sudden idea crossed his mind. "Why don't we ask Remus and Severus for their opinions first?"

"That's a good idea," Hermione replied, warmly. "Maybe Remus would even like to take over the Defence class. It must surely be more interesting to teach than History of Magic."

Harry stood in determination. "I'll go and fetch them." While his friends began with their homework, he headed home to fetch Remus and then hesitantly knocked at the door to Petunia's and Severus' quarters to invite Severus.

HP

Once hearing what the discussion was about, Severus spoke up in a soft voice. "While I understand that you don't trust the headmaster enough to involve him in this conversation, I'd suggest to invite Minerva McGonagall. I fully trust her. She's a tad biased by Professor Dumbledore, but she surely has the school's best interest in mind."

"All right sir," Harry agreed, immediately, while his friends nodded.

"I'll go and invite her," Remus spoke up and left the room.

"Godric, will you please allow Professor McGonagall entrance to your quarters?" Harry addressed the founder in the portrait, who replied, affirmatively.

By the time Remus returned with the deputy headmistress, Gina had served tea, however, pointed out that dinner in the Great Hall was going to commence soon.

"Is anyone interested in the Defence position, or should we ask Amelia Bones if she can lend us an Auror?" Harry enquired, once the Gryffindor head had been filled in that the curse on the position was broken.

"I'd love to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts," Remus spoke up, seemingly sad. "But since I won't be able to teach on the days after the full moon, it's impossible."

"I wouldn't say so," Severus spoke up, smirking, causing everyone to stare at him in surprise. "Harry, you should have enough experience tampering with auras by now. Why don't you ask Remus if he'd allow you to try getting rid of his lycanthropy?"

"You can do such a thing?" Remus asked, staring at Harry in clear disbelief.

"Probably," Harry replied, reluctantly. "Maybe not in one go without depleting my magic, but it should be possible in a few steps. I can't promise anything though, as I haven't done it before."

"Harry, can you try right away?" Remus pleaded in apparent excitement. "If that worked, I'd immediately apply for the Defence Against the Dark Arts position."

"You don't have to apply," Harry replied, chuckling.

"No Harry, stop," Severus spoke up, causing everyone to stare at the Potions Master in surprise. "I won't have Harry fall into a coma from the depletion of his magic," he explained. "Now first of all, we're going to have dinner in the Great Hall. Afterwards, I shall accompany Remus and Harry to the hospital wing, where Poppy can monitor Harry. Why don't we continue this discussion here let's say in an hour?"

Everyone agreed, and even if Harry felt a little disappointed that he could not try to heal Remus right away, he had to admit that Severus was right.

HP

Harry quickly finished his meal and cast Severus and Remus questioning looks. However, the Potions Master non-verbally motioned him to eat some more, and only fifteen minutes later, the two adults finally rose from their seats, much to Harry's annoyance. _'Can't he understand that I want to get over with it as quickly as possible?'_ he thought, when he went to meet the professors in the entrance hall.

Severus led them into Poppy's office and explained the reason for their visit to the healer, who nodded in appreciation.

"Harry, I very much approve what you're going to attempt, but I'd like to ask you to be very careful to not endanger yourself by using too much magic," Poppy told him in a no-nonsense voice.

"Yes Aunt Poppy. I'll be careful," Harry promised, inwardly groaning in annoyance.

He sat in one of the comfortable looking armchairs that Severus had just conjured, while Remus took the chair next to him, and concentrated on the task ahead. He envisioned Remus' aura, which was still white and brown with a strong, green frame. _'I need to get rid of the brown part,'_ he thought, carefully pushing a lot of magic into the wish.

Suddenly, hearing Poppy's voice telling him to stop broke his concentration. Remus' aura still had the brown part, however, it had significantly decreased and was now about half the size that it had been before.

"I'm sorry Remus. It's small now, but it's still there. We need at least one more go, before it'll be gone completely," he said, letting out a deep sigh.

"Harry," Remus replied in clear enthusiasm. "You have nothing to be sorry about. I thank you so much for even trying to help me. This means the world to me."

Harry cast him a weak smile. "We can try again tomorrow," he promised.

"No you can't," Poppy contradicted. "Monday next week at the earliest."

"Monday after dinner again here?" Remus suggested, causing Harry to nod his agreement.

"Aunt Poppy, thank you for stopping me on time," Harry turned to the healer, who gave him a stern look that quickly faded into a passionate smile.

"Harry, I'm very happy that you're able to do this for Remus," the healer replied in a soft voice.

"Well then, shall we return to our previous discussion then?" Severus suggested, and the three wizards made their way back to the founders' living room, where everyone else was already waiting for them in clear excitement.

HP

"So I see that the Defence Against the Dark Arts position has already been taken care of," McGonagall opened the discussion. "How do you wish to proceed with the History of Magic post?"

"Maybe someone from the current seventh year class?" Remus suggested.

"No," Hermione contradicted, firmly. "They don't know enough, as they've been taught by Binns most of their time at Hogwarts. We must find someone from outside."

"I know someone who'd be competent to teach," Harry spoke up, grinning broadly. "I don't know if they'll accept the position though."

Seeing everyone look at him with a combination of what seemed to be surprise and curiosity, Harry explained, "I'd like to ask Perenelle Flamel if she'd be willing to teach History of Magic. Considering that she's more than six hundred years old, she surely counts as competent."

"Why not Nicholas Flamel?" Dudley enquired, frowning.

Harry chuckled. "Because I want to convince him to teach our newly to be invented class of Alchemy."

"Not from first year onwards though," Severus threw in, quirking an eyebrow at the boy.

"Maybe as an elective subject from third year onwards then?" Hermione enquired.

"That would be amazing," Lily added.

"Shall we ask the Flamels?" Harry queried, letting his eyes wander over the group of his friends and teachers.

When everyone nodded or voiced their agreement, he stepped in front of the fireplace and asked Nicholas Flamel if he and his wife had a few minutes and would be so kind to step through to Hogwarts.

A moment later, the ancient couple stepped out of the fireplace and warmly greeted the assembled.

 _'_ _I hope they will agree,'_ Harry thought and decided to just ask straight away. He called Gina and instructed her to bring refreshments for everyone to win some time, while everyone made space for the two guests.

"I'd like to ask the two of you something," he spoke up, hesitantly. "First of all, Mrs. Flamel, would you perhaps be willing to become our professor for History of Magic?"

Mrs. Flamel stared at Harry in apparent shock, before she replied, "I'm sure that I'd enjoy teaching History of Magic, but I don't believe that I'm the adequate person to ask, considering that I didn't even attend Hogwarts. I was at Beauxbatons in France, which means that I did not even grow up in Britain."

"We're aware of that," Hermione spoke up in a soft voice, "however, since the title of the class is not "British History of Magic" but just "History of Magic", I don't see where the problem is."

"Apart from that, you've still lived in Britain for several hundred years, so we think that you're more competent to teach that class than anyone else with the exception of your husband," Lily added, smiling at the older witch.

"Nicholas?" his wife queried.

"Perenelle, I'm sure that you'll do a wonderful job," Nicholas reassured her, smiling.

"All right then, I accept the position," Perenelle informed Harry. "I suppose that it's from September onwards?"

"Yes," Harry agreed, knowing that he had to give the Flamels some time to arrange themselves and prepare for their classes. "Mr. Flamel," he then turned to Nicholas, "would you be willing to teach Alchemy? This would be an elective class only from third year onwards though," he added right away.

"If there are students who are interested, I'd love to do so," Nicholas replied, seemingly enthusiastic.

"There are!" Lily and Hermione shouted, simultaneously.

"There are," Neville and Dudley echoed.

"Harry," Professor McGonagall addressed him, "do you want me to handle everything concerning the positions?"

"Yes please, Professor," Harry said, gratefully. "Thank you very much." Turning to the Flamels, he thanked them profusely for accepting the positions.

"No, no, thank you for inviting us, Mr. Potter," Perenelle replied, smiling, and her husband nodded his agreement.

"This will give us a new challenge," he added, grinning.

"I can't wait for our third year to begin," Hermione said, more to herself than to the others, however, everyone laughed in understanding.

HP

It was just on time for the next full moon that Harry managed to cure both, Remus and Dudley. Just to be sure that they were really healed from lycanthropy, both still spent the night in the safe room, while Harry slept in his own room in his phoenix form.

"Don't worry, Harry. I don't feel the effects of the full moon like you're probably feeling them already, so I'm sure that I'm really cured," Remus reassured him, before he and Dudley left for the dungeons.

"Same here," Dudley added, smiling. "Thank you so much, Harry. It's just awesome."

Harry smiled at his cousin and his guardian, however, the smile did not reach his eyes, as he thought, _'So now I'm the only werewolf at Hogwarts. Too bad that I can't cure myself.'_

HP

It was a week before the leaving feast, and the six friends were spread over the founders' living room engrossed in their assignments, when Lily suddenly spoke up, sounding very annoyed.

"Don't you think it's horrible?" she blurted out. "I mean, I'm looking forward to seeing my parents and my little sister, but I can't imagine being separated from all of you for more than two months. Ever since we've been six years old, we've seen each other almost on a daily basis."

"Yeah, that's true," Harry agreed, sighing. Of course, he knew that Dudley was going to remain at Hogwarts with him and that Neville and his grandmother were going to spend at least the second half of the holidays in the castle, but he was surely going to miss the girls.

"Maybe we can come to Hogwarts like we always did," Hermione replied, wide-eyed.

"At that time, we weren't students," Lily informed her. "Students aren't allowed to remain at the school during the summer."

"We can ask Severus and Remus," Dudley suggested. "Maybe you can stay in our quarters with us."

"Yeah, that should work. If you don't come as students but as our friends to visit us, it might be possible. I can ask Hogwarts," Harry offered.

"Harry," Rowena spoke up from her portrait. "Have you already forgotten that you're the owner of Hogwarts? While it surely wouldn't do well to remain in Gryffindor house provoking the headmaster, you could always live here in our quarters during the holidays. I don't know if you already had a look at each of the rooms, but we have at least ten bedrooms here."

"Ten bedrooms?" Hermione enquired in clear bewilderment. "Excuse me, Professor, but how many children did you have?"

Rowena chuckled. "Godric and I had three children and Helga and Salazar five, but you must know that we've lived in these quarters with five generations at one time," she explained, causing everyone to stare at the founders in clear amazement.

"Thank you Rowena," Harry said, gratefully. "I guess we're going to make use of your offer then."

As if on anyone's command, everyone set their school books aside and began to write home to their parents to enquire if they could return to Hogwarts on Harry's birthday and remain until the beginning of the new school year.

"We still should ask Severus and Remus about it," Harry said to Dudley, and while everyone was engrossed in their letters, the cousins quickly hurried to speak with their guardians.

HP

Apparently feeling absolutely enthusiastic about not being a werewolf anymore, Dudley intensified his practice to finally become an Animagus, and his eagerness spread over to Harry, who had almost forgotten about the matter due to the excitement of their first Hogwarts year as students.

By the time Harry's birthday approached, both boys were able to completely transform into Crups. For the time being, they decided to keep their success a secret, especially Harry, who did not want anyone to know that he had a second Animagus form.

"Maybe we should tell our friends though, and I've already got an idea," Dudley said to Harry, chuckling mischievously.

"All right," Harry replied, looking at his cousin in expectation. _'His ideas are always special,'_ he thought in amusement.

HP

All teachers had to return to Hogwarts on the first of August, however, Neville and Draco had convinced their guardians that they needed to go a day earlier and that they were going to stay in the founders' quarters together with everyone else.

Therefore, Harry and Dudley made their way to the founders' quarters right after breakfast to await everyone's arrival.

Punctually at ten o'clock, their friends began to come in through the fireplace. Everyone put their luggage aside, greeted each other in clear excitement and finally made themselves comfortable on the sofas like they had done almost every evening during the school year.

Draco was the first to enquire, "Where are Harry and Dudley? And since when do we have dogs in here?"

"They're Jack Russell terriers," Hermione said, as she gently petted the brown eyed dog's fur.

"They could be Crups," Neville threw in. "They look like that."

Noticing that the founders in their portrait were laughing uncontrollably, Lily took a good look at the dog who was just cuddling into her soft touch and grinned upon noticing his eyes.

"Hi there, tell me, are you Harry?" she cooed. "You're beautiful dogs, aren't you? And your canine friend here must be Dudley then, is that right?"

The others stared at the two dogs, when Harry moved his head up and down in confirmation.

"You're dog Animagi? Both of you?" Su blurted out in clear disbelief.

"But Harry, you're already a soul phoenix," Hermione threw in, clearly confused. "Is it possible to have multiple Animagus forms?"

"Yes," Harry confirmed, smiling, once he and Dudley transformed back into their human forms.

"Harry, Dudley, can you please teach us how to become an Animagus?" Draco spoke up, causing Lily and Hermione to agree immediately.

"We'll do," Harry promised. "We're going to have much time during the next month. Now shall we go and have a look at the rooms?"

"Before we go though, you should decide if you want a room for yourself or if you prefer to share a room, as there are single and double rooms," Dudley added.

They quickly decided that Harry would share with Dudley and Neville with Draco, while the girls were unable to make a decision, before Helga informed them that there should be one room equipped with three beds.

HP

After everyone had settled into their rooms, there was just time for a first Animagus lesson, before they had to head to the Great Hall for lunch.

"First of all, you have to decide what kind of animal you wish to become," Harry told his friends. "Then you must gather as much information about it as you can."

"Are cats and dogs able to communicate with each other?" Hermione enquired, pensively. "I'd like to become a cat, but I also want to be able to converse with the two of you."

"Let's try it out," Harry suggested. "Where's Crookshanks?"

"Maybe still in our room," Hermione replied, looking around, before she headed to fetch the Kneazle cat that had been snuggling into her bed.

Harry transformed back into his dog form. =Hi Crookshanks, are you able to understand me?= he asked in a soft voice, carefully licking the cat's ear.

=Of course I understand you. I'm not a muggle cat but a Kneazle,= Hermione's pet replied, sounding slightly offended.

=I'm sorry,= Harry immediately apologized. =We merely wanted to find out if cats and dogs are able to communicate, because my friends are trying to decide what kind of Animagi they want to become. I didn't mean to offend you at all.=

=That's all right, and for your information, they'll only be able to speak with each other if they're magical cats or dogs,= Crookshanks replied, giving Harry a sharp look.

=Oh all right, thank you so much for the information,= Harry added, gratefully, before he transformed back into his human form to fill in his friends.

"So that means we have to try to become magical animals," Hermione spoke up, sounding upset. "I don't even know if I'll be able to become an Animagus at all, considering that I'm muggleborn."

"Does that matter?" Harry enquired, quirking an eyebrow. "I'm a werewolf, and Remus told me from the beginning that a werewolf probably wouldn't be able to do the transformation. Oh well, so much about that."

"I'd like to become a magical lynx," Draco spoke up. "They can make themselves invisible and move absolutely soundlessly. Maybe it'll become handy some time later on."

"That sounds like a great Animagus form," Su commended the boy. "I'll try to become a Kneazle like Hermione then."

"I don't know," Neville spoke up, sounding helpless.

"You'd make a great lion, Nev," Su replied, causing everyone to agree, full heartedly.

"Really?" Neville asked, incredulously.

"Either that or a griffin, Nev," Harry told him. "A griffin should be able to communicate with everyone, too."

"All right, I'll try that," Neville decided, seemingly happy with his choice.

"I'll try for a Crup," Lily stated, smiling. "They're so cute but still magical and very powerful at that."

When everyone was happy with their choices, the group headed to the Great Hall for lunch, knowing that they would spend some time during the afternoon in the library to do some research about their attempted animals.

With their research, a Quidditch match and a huge birthday cake in the form of Hogwarts, Harry's birthday passed in a blur, and it was already late, when Harry let himself sink into bed in his and Dudley's room in the founders' quarters.

He was just about to drift off to sleep, when a strange sound right next to him made him open his eyes once more in confusion.


	11. Chapter 11

**Soul Phoenix**  
 **by Healer Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. Rating M for multiple character deaths throughout this story.**

 _It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.  
_ _Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind feedback on the previous chapter!_

* * *

"Hello?" Harry asked with a combination of surprise and annoyance upon seeing an unknown house-elf standing right next to his bed.

"Hello Harry Potter sir, Dobby is sorry for disturbing Harry Potter, but Dobby came to warn Harry Potter. Harry Potter must leave Hogwarts before the next school year. Bad things will happen at Hogwarts, and Harry Potter mustn't be here," the small house-elf blurted out before Harry could even react.

"What kind of things, Dobby?" Harry asked in surprise.

Dobby feverishly shook his head. "Oh, Dobby mustn't tell," he said with apparent regret.

"I'm sorry Dobby, but since I am the owner of Hogwarts, I definitely won't go anywhere else," Harry replied in a firm voice, causing himself to become involved in a longer discussion with the elf about Hogwarts and his safety. Finally, Harry asked, "Dobby, who sent you here?"

Dobby stared at Harry in apparent shock. "No one sir, nobody sent Dobby, but Harry Potter is the saviour of the magical world, and he saved many lives, of humans and of elves, and Dobby thought… Dobby wanted to warn Harry Potter sir. If Dobby's family knew what Dobby has done, Dobby's Master would be very angry."

"Dobby, who is your Master?" Harry asked with curiosity. "Which family do you belong to?"

"Oh, Dobby musn't tell," Dobby replied, seemingly horrified, before he popped away in apparent fright.

HP

 _'_ _How strange,' Harry thought. 'What bad things could happen at Hogwarts? Moreover, who would let their elves wear such a dirty piece of cloth?'_ Harry thought in disgust, when a thought crossed his mind. Gina was always wearing a nice one-piece with the Potter crest embroidered in the front, however, the Hogwarts elves were wearing mere tea towels.

 _'_ _I wonder if it's up to their master or mistress to make them wear these clothes, but they can't give them the clothes, otherwise, they'd free them,'_ he mused and finally called Gina to discuss the matter with her.

"As the owner of Hogwarts, Master Harry should be responsible for the house-elves, but they're still sworn to the headmaster," Gina informed him. "You could call Barney, the head house-elf, and make him renew the oath, so that all elves will be re-bonded to you. Then you could order them to wear something nice with the Hogwarts crest on it."

"That's a brilliant idea, Gina," Harry said, gratefully. "Barney," he called to the head house-elf and informed him that he'd like to bond the elves to him as the owner of the castle. "Gina, Barney, what do I have to do?" he then asked.

"Leave it to Barney," Gina replied, giving the older elf an encouraging nod.

Suddenly, Harry felt a happy sensation, right before Barney announced, "All Hogwarts elves are being bonded to Master Harry now."

"Thank you so much, Barney," Harry said, warmly. "Now I'd like all male house-elves to wear a nice jumpsuit with the Hogwarts crest in the front and all female house-elves one-pieces with the same embroidery. Will you be able to manage that?"

"Sure Master Harry," Barney confirmed. He remained quiet for a moment, before his attire changed and he enquired, "Like this, Master Harry?"

He was now dressed in a white jumpsuit wearing a large version of the Hogwarts crest right on his chest.

"It's beautiful," Harry commended the elf. "Will you please make all elves wear your invention?"

"Of course Master Harry, thank you very much. The elves will be very happy to wear so nice clothes," the elf replied and on Harry's dismissal popped away.

HP

In the morning, Harry and his friends met in the living room with the intention to head to the Great Hall together.

"Wait a moment," Harry said and held his friends back to tell them about the strange visit that he had experienced in the evening.

"Bad things are going to occur?" Hermione asked, incredulously.

"What was the elf's name?" Neville enquired.

"Dobby," Harry replied, shrugging. "He must belong to a family that doesn't really care for him, since he was only wearing a dirty tea towel," he added, somehow feeling very sorry for the elf who had been so kind as to warn him about whatever it was.

"Dobby is our elf," Draco blurted out. "How dare he? But on the other hand, I understand him well. Maybe my father is planning something evil, and he got to know about it. If Father gets to know that Dobby came to speak to you, Dobby will be dead."

"You won't tell him though, will you?" Lily spoke up, giving Draco a sharp look.

"I won't," Draco promised, sincerely.

"What could your father be planning though?" Harry queried, quirking an eyebrow at his Slytherin friend.

"I've no idea," Draco admitted. "I can only tell that my father is up to no good. I'll ask Mother when she comes here later today, but I guess that she won't be aware of anything either."

HP

As Draco had assumed, his mother did not have a clue either, and during the remaining weeks of the holidays, most of the soon-to-be second-years busied themselves helping the Flamels to prepare their classrooms and offices, so that they soon forgot about Dobby's warning.

At the same time, Harry assisted Severus in the potions lab. However, he did not really worry about the warning either. _'Whatever is going to happen, Hogwarts will help us,'_ he thought, feeling very much reassured to have such a powerful friend at his side.

Too soon for everyone's liking, the holidays came to an end, and on the last day before the beginning of the new school year, Harry's friends returned home with the exception of Neville and Draco.

In the morning, Severus and Remus apparated Harry and Dudley to King's Cross just like the previous year.

"Well, you know where the entrance is…"

"Take care of yourselves and behave yourselves on the train," the older wizards told them, before they apparated back, leaving Harry and Dudley on the muggle platform.

Harry inwardly groaned in annoyance upon realising that the Weasleys were just gathered around the entrance to platform nine and three quarters when they arrived.

"Oh Merlin, let's get through quickly," Harry whispered to Dudley, remembering all too well what the twins had told him about their little sister and her crush on him.

As usual, they did not have any luggage to carry, as the house-elves had promised to take their belongings to their dormitory during the welcoming banquet. Thus, the boys ran towards the entrance together right after the Weasley twins, only to crash into the wall.

After two more attempts to get through the wall, they realised that somehow the entrance was locked.

"Grab my tail feathers," Harry whispered to Dudley, before he transformed into his phoenix form, not noticing that Ronald Weasley was standing behind him, trying to hold on as well.

HP

"You know we could have flashed right from Hogwarts," Dudley said, when they arrived on the platform.

"Yeah, that's true, but I didn't even think of it," Harry replied. "Next year, we can do so to spare Remus and Severus the trip though."

"Harry!"

"Dudley!"

They suddenly found themselves surrounded by their friends.

"You're quite late," Hermione stated, causing Dudley to explain about the barrier being locked.

"Strange," Lily spoke up. "It should only become locked a while after the departure of the train, when the parents have left."

Harry shrugged. "If strange things happen, leave it to us to be there," he replied, dryly.

"Well, let's go and look for a compartment," Su said, resolutely, nodding gratefully when Neville took her luggage and carried it to the train for her.

Harry reached for Lily's suitcase. "Give me your suitcase," he said in a soft voice, before he manoeuvred it along the platform, barely registering that Dudley did the same for Hermione.

"Harry!" Two simultaneous voices suddenly kept him back. It was the twins.

"You haven't seen Ronnykins by the way?"

"He was the last of our family to go through the barrier…"

"… and we only saw you on the muggle platform when we left."

"Sorry, but I've no idea," Harry replied in surprise. "The barrier was locked, and I flashed onto the platform with Dudley. I don't know what happened, but I didn't see Ronald."

Seeing the twins nod, he hurried behind his friends and boarded the train, glad that they were still able to find a compartment for themselves, where Draco joined them together with Millicent, a second-year Slytherin girl.

HP

At the welcoming feast, Harry noticed that Ron had yet to show up. _'Serves him right that he didn't get through the barrier,'_ he thought, still not having forgotten how Ronald had behaved a few months ago after borrowing his invisibility cloak.

The redhead did not join them during the feast and even missed that his younger sister was also sorted into Gryffindor. However, when the second-years entered their dormitory after the banquet, they found a very irate Ronald, who immediately began to complain that Harry was a git for not taking him to the platform together with Dudley.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you," Harry said, matter-of-factly.

"What happened anyway?" Seamus enquired, giving the redhead a curious look.

"The entrance to the platform was locked, these two flashed away without taking me, so I borrowed my father's car and flew here," Ronald informed them. "Unfortunately, one of the new teachers caught me crashing into a tree and took one hundred points from Gryffindor. McGonagall was extremely pissed off that he took so many points before we could even gain as much as one," he finished his explanation.

"I guess she was more angered that you lost so many, rather than that Professor Flamel took them," Neville spoke up, grinning.

"He made me eat dinner in his office," Ronald complained. "I couldn't even see Ginny's Sorting."

"Oh, she was sorted into Slytherin," Dudley informed him, before he scrambled into bed. "Good night everyone."

"Good night," Harry and Neville replied in amusement.

HP

The first few weeks of their second year passed rather uneventfully. Perenelle Flamel was a wonderful History of Magic teacher, and the whole school seemed to be happy with Remus Lupin as the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.

Only Dumbledore, however, seemed to be thoroughly upset with Harry, especially after Harry had hired the Flamels as teachers for Hogwarts. However, apparently, the headmaster knew better than to complain directly to the boy, after Severus, Remus and the deputy headmistress had warned him that Harry would be able to put him on probation or, even worse, just dismiss him without explicit reason.

Fortunately, Remus and Severus had both told Harry about Dumbledore's grudges, so that Harry knew that he had to be careful around the old wizard. _'Oh well, while being within Hogwarts' walls, he wouldn't be able to do anything to me anyway. I'm sure that Hogwarts would be able and willing to protect me,'_ he thought, feeling very safe inside the castle. _'And if he abducted me, I could just flash away.'_

HP

It was during the Halloween feast, when Harry and his friends had already completely forgotten about Dobby's warning, that something happened which really shocked Harry.

Harry, Dudley and the Weasley twins left the feast a little earlier in order to play a prank against the whole school. However, as soon as they walked through the empty corridors of the castle, Harry heard a hissing voice.

"Why doesss he want me to kill people? I'm not a killer." It sounded quite upset.

"Did you hear that?" Harry asked his friends, who turned around to give him sharp looks.

"Hear what?"

"The voice that said that it doesn't want to kill," Harry replied, impatiently.

"No" came the triple response.

"Oh well, maybe just my imagination then," Harry decided, shrugging. _'Still strange,'_ he thought. _'I'm sure that I heard it though.'_

Just when they turned around the next corner, the twins, who were walking ahead, stopped dead in their tracks.

"There," the twins uttered, pointing to the wall.

 _'_ _The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of pure blood beware!'_ was written in red letters against the old stone wall. Underneath, Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's cat, was hanging stiffly by her tail from the torch bracket.

"Is she…?" Harry asked, horrified.

All of a sudden, the Potions Master appeared right next to them. Unbeknownst to the children, he had followed the four Gryffindors out of the Great Hall in order to find out what kind of mischief they were up to.

"I don't think that she's dead," he thoughtfully answered the unasked question. "I believe that she's petrified."

"Harry heard a voice," Dudley spoke up, "but none of us could hear it. Oh Harry," he then turned to his cousin, "was it perhaps Parseltongue? You're the only of us who can understand it."

"It was a hissing sound. Maybe," Harry replied, uncertainly. "Maybe I should go to the Parlour and speak with Hogwarts. She must know what happened."

"Harry, please do so, while I inform Mr. Filch and the headmaster," Severus instructed him.

"Come with me," Harry asked his friends, and the four Gryffindors headed to the Parlour in the founders' quarters, hoping that the castle would be able to enlighten them about what had happened.

HP

"It's a first-year Gryffindor with red hair," Hogwarts informed them in a grave voice. "She went to visit Amaterasu carrying a black book, from which a boy emerged, a Parselmouth. He forced Amaterasu to go into the castle to kill all half-bloods and muggleborns."

"Harry," Salazar called from the portrait in the living room. "Go and visit Amaterasu and tell her to not obey to that boy. I will also teach you a spell…"

The four friends slowly walked over to the living room, and Salazar explained, "You must ask Amaterasu for the exit that takes you just behind the lake. If you cast the spell from exactly the point where you get out from the hidden corridor, it'll save the whole school and its grounds from Amaterasu's yellow eyes."

"Excuse me, sir," Harry asked in a small voice, "what kind of animal is Amaterasu?"

"She's a basilisk," Salazar growled, "and I should have sent you to visit her a long time ago. I'm sorry."

"Oh that explains why you could hear her…"

"… and you couldn't," Harry completed Dudley's sentence, feeling thoroughly annoyed at the fact that he had another abilities which the others were lacking.

"Sal," Helga suddenly spoke up. "Why don't you ask the boys to provide a small frame for you to slip in, so that they can take you with them? I'm sure that Amaterasu will be quite distressed by the matter."

"That's a fantastic idea," Harry said in understanding and called Gina to ask for a small frame.

"Very well," Salazar spoke up, once he had slipped into the frame that Harry was carrying. "There are multiple ways into my Chamber of Secrets, but we're going to take the easiest one, which begins in the bathroom behind Helga's and my bedroom." He led the four boys through the large quarters of the founders and into a cosy looking bathroom. "The door over there leads into the chamber," he informed them.

Soon, the four boys were slowly descending a slim and slightly glibbery staircase, noticing that the air became colder as they went. After a few minutes' walk, the steps ended, and they found themselves in an enormous room that even rivalled the Great Hall in size. It was merely interrupted by a couple of large pillars.

 _'_ _Just the right size for a playroom for a basilisk,'_ Harry thought, somehow feeling not overly confident, even if the founder was with them as a portrait.

"Amaterassu, it'sss me, Sal, and I'm bringing a few nice guestsss," Salazar suddenly hissed. "Pleasse change your eyessss to white and come out of your hiding sspot."

"Should we close our eyes…"

"… in order to survive the encounter?" the twins enquired, causing Salazar to roll his eyes.

"No need, Amaterasu would never willingly harm anyone," he informed them. "If she changes her eyes to white, it's absolutely safe for you."

Just then, slithering sounds could be heard, and a large head appeared from behind one of the pillars. Harry was stunned at the size of what was just the head of a seemingly huge animal.

"Salazzzzar, issss that really you?" the basilisk enquired and came nearer, only to stop right in front of them.

"Salazzar, I'm ssso happy to ssee you," she then hissed before adding, "I sssee you brought guessstsss. I hope nice onesss."

"Did I ever bring people here who were not niccce?" Salazar asked, feigning a hurt expression.

"Hi Amaterasssu," Harry spoke up. "I'm Harry, and these are my cousin Dudley and our friendsss Fred and George."

"Ahhh, a sspeaker," Amaterasu replied in apparent delight.

"I believe there was another speaker here earlier," Salazar spoke again. "Please tell Harry and his friendsss everything about the girl and the boy who came here, so that they can stop them from doing what they intend to do."

"Will you really do that for me?" Amaterasu enquired, turning large, white eyes to view Harry.

"Yesss, sure," Harry promised, smiling.

While Amaterasu explained to Harry what exactly had happened earlier, Salazar translated for the other three boys.

"Oh no…"

"… This sounds like our baby sister," the twins said, frowning simultaneously.

"What should we do?"

"… Shall we go and take the book off her?"

"… We don't even know where she got it from."

"First of all, you must cast a spell over the school and grounds," Salazar insisted and taught them the spell, before they said good-bye to Amaterasu and headed out through a passage that led them to a spot behind the lake. "Cast it now," Salazar instructed them.

Together, the four boys cast the spell, before they looked at Salazar in his portrait, questioningly.

"That's it," the founder reassured them. "You must re-cast this spell once a year. It suffices if one or two of you cast it though."

"I'll remember to cast it on Halloween every year," Harry promised, making a mental note to write down the incantation somewhere later on.

HP

Knowing that they had to do something about Ginny and the black book, Harry and Dudley returned to the Gryffindor common room together with the twins. However, they could neither see Ginny Weasley nor any kind of black book in the common room.

"Maybe she's already gone to bed…"

"… It's almost midnight after all," the twins said, casting a quick Tempus spell at the wall.

"Oh well, let's leave it until tomorrow evening then," Harry decided. "My friends and I will spend the evening here then."

"All right…"

"… We need to get some beauty sleep, too…"

"… Considering that tomorrow morning is the Quidditch match," the twins agreed, grinning.

"Oh no, I almost forgot," Harry replied, yawning, as he trailed behind Dudley to the second year boys' dormitory.

HP

The day of the Quidditch match against Slytherin was a cold but sunny day, and Harry thoroughly enjoyed himself, as he circled above the Quidditch pitch looking for the Snitch. A few minutes into the game, however, he realised that one of the Bludgers seemed to be charmed to follow him. He managed to evade the Bludger several times, however, when he finally saw the Snitch, he forgot everything around himself, and the Bludger hit him into the arm full-force.

 _'_ _Ouch,'_ Harry thought, as he let go of his broom and hurriedly grabbed the Snitch out of the air with his other arm. Somehow, he managed to get down to the ground, half-way steering his broom by wish magic, half-way tumbling down. He remained on the ground for a moment, holding up the Snitch for everyone to see.

Just when Madam Hooch announced, "Harry Potter caught the Snitch. Gryffindor wins," Severus was the first to reach Harry, closely followed by Poppy.

Hearing that Poppy talked to Severus about taking him to the hospital wing for observation, Harry protested vehemently.

"No, I have something important to do later on. Can you please just mend my arm and let me go?" he pleaded with the healer, who healed his broken arm with a flick of her wand and allowed him to go, clucking in apparent annoyance.

HP

When Harry entered the Gryffindor common room together with his friends and let his eyes wander around, Ginny Weasley was not present.

"Oh well, she'll come to the victory party in any case…"

"… We'll be back in a few minutes," the twins said and headed to the fourth-year boys' dormitory.

Sighing in relief upon realising that he had a few minutes' time, Harry also returned to his dormitory to leave his Quidditch robes upstairs and enjoy a few minutes of quiet, before everyone was going to celebrate their victory.

When he sat on his bed to ponder the matter with Ginny and the diary, a loud pop made him look up.

"Dobby is sorry Harry Potter sir," Dobby, the elf, told him.

"Sorry?" Harry repeated, questioningly, before realisation set in. "Ahh, don't tell me it was you who sent the Bludger after me."

"Dobby is sorry, Harry Potter sir, but since Harry Potter did not take Dobby's warning seriously, Dobby had to try something else to make Harry Potter leave Hogwarts. Dobby locked the barrier, but even that could not stop Harry Potter from returning to Hogwarts, so…" The elf slowly trailed off, banging his head against the frame of the bed.

"Dobby, stop that," Harry said in a firm voice. "Thank you so much for trying to help me, but let me tell you something. We've already found out what's happening, and we're going to stop it today or tomorrow at the latest. So don't worry about me anymore, and please don't do anything else. All right?"

"All right sir," Dobby agreed in a small voice, seemingly consoled by Harry's words.

"Dobby, if there's anything that I can help you with or if you want to leave the Malfoys, just tell me and I'll see what I can do for you," Harry offered, sincerely.

Dobby's eyes widened in clear surprise. "Ahh, Dobby knew that Harry Potter is the very best. His greatness…"

He was interrupted, when Dudley looked into the room. "Harry, are you coming?"

"In five minutes," Harry replied, turning back to Dobby.

"The only way that Dobby could leave his family would be if his Master would give him clothes," Dobby said, sadly, before he silently began to cry.

"We'll see what we can do," Harry replied in a soothing voice.

"Thank you so much, Harry Potter sir," Dobby said, gratefully, before he popped away with a loud crack.

HP

When Harry descended to the common room, he saw immediately that Ginny Weasley was sitting in a corner writing in a book. "I'll be back in a few minutes," he told his friends and motioned the twins and Dudley to follow him.

The four boys swiftly walked to Professor McGonagall's office, glad when their head of house opened the door mere seconds following their knock.

"What's wrong?" the professor enquired in clear disbelief, apparently wondering why four of her lions were wearing such grave expressions right after an overwhelming Quidditch victory against Slytherin.

Harry gave the twins a sharp nod, and the redheaded boys began to tell the professor everything that they had learned about the Chamber of Secrets on the previous evening.

"It's our sister, Professor…"

"… She's writing in some kind of black book…"

"… from which a boy comes out…"

"… and orders Amaterasu into the castle…"

"… We need you to come and confiscate that book from Ginny," they ended their explanation.

The professor's mouth was stretched to a thin line. "Are you sure?" she finally asked in clear disbelief.

"Yes Professor," Harry spoke up, "absolutely certain. If you take the book from Ginny, I'll ask Amaterasu to destroy it with her fangs. At least that's what Professor Slytherin suggested."

"Very well," McGonagall agreed, finally appearing to believe their story, which in the professor's ears had sounded like a prank at first. She strode to the common room in clear determination.

Not wanting to make a scene in the common room, the four boys decided to remain outside and wait for the professor to return with the book. Only when she left the common room with the book firmly tucked in her hand, the twins entered through the portrait hole in order to console their little sister.

"Professor McGonagall, would you like to come with us to the Chamber to meet Amaterasu?" Harry invited the teacher, who cast him a horrified look before declining.

"Are you sure that it's completely safe for you to access the Chamber of Secrets?" she asked in a stern voice.

"Absolutely," Harry and Dudley replied, firmly.

"All right then," McGonagall conceded. "After it has been destroyed, I'd like you to take the book to Professor Dumbledore and show it to him," she added as an afterthought.

"We will," Harry promised, grudgingly, and the two boys made their way to once again visit the basilisk.

HP

One hour and a longer conversation with Amaterasu that Harry translated for Dudley later, the two cousins walked towards the headmaster's office.

"I don't really understand why we should take that thing to Dumbledore," Dudley moaned. "What has he got to do with it?"

Harry scoffed. "Maybe that he should have found out what or who opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago. Other than that, I don't know. Anyway, we're going to take it there because McGonagall said so. It's destroyed, so Dumbledore won't be able to do anything strange with it in any case."

"Yes, that's true," Dudley agreed, sighing.

When they arrived in front of the gargoyle that was guarding the headmaster's office, it sprang aside automatically, and the two boys stepped on the staircase which brought them right to the door leading into the office.

"Come in," the headmaster called, and Dudley quickly stepped inside, closely followed by Harry.

To their surprise, none other than Lucius Malfoy was standing in front of Dumbledore's desk, apparently too engrossed in his conversation with the headmaster to even notice the children. Dobby was hovering slightly behind his Master.

"And I tell you now headmaster, the Yule Ball is an event at Malfoy Manor that affords the presence of my wife. You can't tell me that any of the students would need her in the library of the first day of the winter holidays."

The blonde wizard was speaking haughtily, and Harry felt a deep dislike towards the man, especially upon noticing that his aura was black with a green frame.


	12. Chapter 12

**Soul Phoenix**  
 **by Healer Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. Rating M for multiple character deaths throughout this story.**

 _It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.  
_ _Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind feedback on the previous chapter!_

* * *

Recalling his earlier conversation with Dobby and using the opportunity of the two older wizards being engrossed in their seemingly unpleasant conversation, Harry quickly removed his right shoe, slid his sock from his foot and carefully laid it into the black book, before he spoke up in a firm voice.

"Professor Dumbledore, I'm sorry to disturb you and your guest, but I think I have something which belongs to Mr. Malfoy," he then said in a firm voice, before he turned to Malfoy and shoved the book into the blond wizard's hand.

Seemingly angered at the distraction, Malfoy did not even do as much as look at the book and thrust it at Dobby. "How dare you interrupt an important conversation between me and the headmaster?" he then growled.

"We were told to come here," Dudley replied, matter-of-factly, while Harry quietly motioned Dobby to open the book.

Dobby suddenly let out a scream of pure joy, holding a sock in his hand in clear amazement. "Master has given Dobby clothes! Dobby is free!" he squealed in delight.

"You!" Malfoy hissed at Harry, pointing his cane at the boy. However, before he was able to cast any spell whatsoever, Dobby raised a finger, and Lucius Malfoy was cold out on the floor.

 _'_ _Become a Squib,'_ Harry thought, angrily, and his wish magic, fuelled by anger at the dark wizard's treatment of Dobby, changed the green frame to pink.

With a tired but contented smile, Harry turned to Dobby. "Thanks Dobby for saving us from him."

"Oh no, the great Harry Potter needs not thank Dobby. Dobby will always serve the great Harry Potter," Dobby blurted out, before he ran over to Harry and hugged his legs.

Harry was not sure how to react, however, for once Dumbledore saved him. "Dobby, do you wish to bond with Harry and become his elf?" he asked, gently. "Another possibility would be to join the Hogwarts elves."

"Dobby will bond with the great Harry Potter," Dobby replied in apparent delight.

"You could also work for me as a free elf and receive payment for your work," Harry suggested, however Dobby decided to bond with him, and an instant later, Harry felt the happiness that came with the bonding spread through his body.

"Malfoy won't curse anyone anymore," Harry quietly told Dumbledore, before he left the office together with Dudley and Dobby, who was now wearing a jumpsuit similar to Gina's one-piece with the Potter and the Hogwarts crests on the front.

 _'_ _Oh, he's right,'_ Harry realised, resolving to speak with Gina about adding the Hogwarts crest to her one-piece as well.

HP

At dinner time, Dumbledore personally strode by the Gryffindor table and asked Harry to join him for a minute. He led the second-year into the ante-chamber and firmly closed the door behind themselves, before he enquired, "Harry my boy, what exactly did you mean when you told me that Lucius Malfoy would not curse people again?"

Harry chuckled, before he explained about Malfoy's aura. "It couldn't be more black, but I changed the green that was surrounding it to pink, so that means that he's a Squib now. He'll be so happy when he realises it."

Dumbledore stared at Harry in apparent shock. "Are you sure?" he finally asked.

"Absolutely," Harry replied, smiling. "It's easy to change people's auras, and I've enough practice from curing Remus and Dudley, so I know what I'm doing."

"Harry," Dumbledore said, slowly, "this is a very useful yet dangerous power. Please promise me that you'll use it wisely."

"Headmaster, I will," Harry promised. "I won't do anything to innocent people."

"You shouldn't tell anyone about it," Dumbledore added, seemingly dazed.

"Oh believe me sir, I won't. Malfoy would kill me if he knew who caused him to become a Squib," Harry replied, grinning. "The teachers, oh well, most of them, and my friends know about it, no one else, and I wish to keep it that way."

"Well, Malfoy will probably believe that Dobby is responsible for his misfortune," Dumbledore agreed, and the usual twinkle slowly returned into his eyes. "You did very well in this case."

"Thank you Professor," Harry replied, as they both returned to the Great Hall.

While Harry continued with his dinner, the headmaster stood behind his seat at the high table and shortly explained to the students and teachers what had happened that caused Mrs. Norris to become petrified. To Harry's relief, he did not mention Ginny's name, however, he told everyone that a spell had been cast to prevent events from happening again.

 _'_ _Thank Merlin McGonagall informed him,'_ Harry thought. _'I didn't even get a chance with Malfoy and Dobby being there.'_

HP

Later in the evening, the friends spent a while in the founders' quarters, and Harry and Dudley told the others everything that they did not have time to explain earlier.

Hermione remained pensive for a while, before she suddenly asked, "Wasn't Hagrid expelled because he was accused of having opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago?"

"He wouldn't have been able to open it," Dudley replied in a firm voice.

"Mione, are you sure?" Harry asked, feeling as much confused as upset.

"Fairly sure, yes," Hermione confirmed.

"Let's write a letter to Amelia Bones and ask for a trial for Hagrid then," Neville spoke up.

"I'll do that right away," Harry agreed and immediately set to work.

 _'_ _Dear Madam Bones,  
I heard that Hagrid was accused of having opened the Chamber of Secrets 50 years ago, and I would like to inform you that this is impossible. Hagrid would not have been able to open the chamber, as it can only be opened with a code in Parseltongue. At that time, Tom Riddle opened the chamber and forced the basilisk inside out into the castle, where a student was killed.  
I would like to ask you to grant Hagrid a trial, during which we can prove his innocence.  
Thank you very much in advance  
Harry Potter  
Owner of Hogwarts'_

HP

The response arrived as early as breakfast on Sunday morning.

 _'_ _Dear Mr. Potter,  
Thank you very much for alerting me to the matter. I will see to it that a trial for Hagrid will be arranged within the next week. You will be requested to act as a witness and prove his innocence if anyhow possible.  
Best regards  
Amelia Bones  
Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement'_

"Let's pay Hagrid a visit," Harry said to his friends, grinning in anticipation.

The half-giant was surprised to say the least when the six friends showed up at his doorframe on Sunday morning after breakfast.

"Hagrid, we have good news for you," Hermione spoke up and informed Hagrid about the upcoming trial, once they were all seated inside the small but cosy hut.

HP

The trial took place on Wednesday the following week. Harry and Dudley were both asked to participate as witnesses, and since they did not want any of the teachers to miss their classes in order to accompany them, Amelia Bones offered that they could floo directly into her office, so that she could take them to the court room.

It was a relatively small courtroom, and the trial took place under exclusion of the public. Merely a few journalists were there to take notes of the event.

Harry was glad that Amelia Bones seemed to be leading the trial. At first, Hagrid was questioned under Veritaserum, before Harry was called up as witness.

"Even if he wanted, Hagrid would not be able to open the Chamber of Secrets, as it can only be opened by a Parselmouth," Harry explained and continued, "At that time, it was Tom Riddle who opened the Chamber and instructed the basilisk inside to go into the castle and kill muggleborn students."

"How can a twelve-year-old know this?" a man, who Harry learned to be Minister Fudge, asked in apparent annoyance.

"As the owner of Hogwarts, I am able to converse with Hogwarts herself, and she informed me of the matter," Harry replied, offering to show the memory to the audience.

"Yes please," Amelia accepted the offer and sent one of her Aurors for a Pensieve. She then instructed Harry how to put a memory inside, and the whole Wizengamot observed how Harry had spoken with Hogwarts and then went to open the chamber carrying Salazar's portrait with him.

"He could have made up everything. He's probably just an attention seeking brat," a witch in a pink cardigan spoke up, causing Harry to immediately detest the woman.

"If Mr. Potter was an attention seeking brat, Ms. Umbridge," Madam Bones countered before Harry could even think of a response, "then I'm sure that you'd all have known earlier that he is the owner of Hogwarts. May I ask how many members of the Wizengamot were aware of the matter?"

No one raised their hands, and from that point onwards, the trial went smoothly and ended with Hagrid being allowed to carry a wand again and being compensated for the misjudgement that had occurred fifty years ago.

A moment later, Harry and Dudley found themselves almost being crashed by the very happy half-giant's embrace.

"Thank you so much, Harry and Dudley," Hagrid uttered between tears.

"Don't thank us…"

"… Thank Hermione…"

"… She's the one who came up with it," the cousins replied, grinning.

HP

The good-natured half-giant was outright happy, and while he had always had an ear and a smile for the students, his smile now became contagious, especially when the headmaster promised to make him the Care of Magical Creatures professor from the next school year onwards. The only condition was that Hagrid took his OWLs by the end of the current school year, which was no problem for the large wizard, especially since all teachers promised to help and teach him the knowledge that he was lacking.

"Hagrid will make a good teacher," Harry said to his friends, smiling, after hearing the news from his large friend.

HP

As usual during his free time, Harry spent the winter holidays assisting Severus. One of his tasks this time was to teach Hagrid some of the potions that he needed to be able to brew to take his OWLs. With relief, he noticed that the half-giant was not bad at brewing and that it was fun teaching him.

"Harry," Severus spoke up one day, when Harry cleaned Hagrid's workspace with a flick of his wand, "I'd like you to take the Potions OWL at the same time as Hagrid."

Harry cast the Potions Master a look of pure shock. "The OWL?" he asked, incredulously, thinking, _'But I'm only a second-year in case you haven't noticed.'_

A small smile played on Severus' lips, as he replied, "If someone is able to take their OWLs doesn't have anything to do with their age but with their abilities, and you're well able to pass the exam with an outstanding result. The potions which I made you brew during your Potions class were fourth year and partly fifth year potions, so that you'll be well through with everything needed for the OWL by the summer."

"All right sir," Harry agreed, smiling, as he pulled out a cauldron from the shelf to begin with the next potion on his list for Poppy.

HP

On the one hand, Harry enjoyed the Christmas holidays, being able to assist in the lab when he wanted, going on small excursions with Remus and Sybill, sometimes even together with Petunia, Severus and Dudley, however, on the other hand, he could not wait for his friends to return to Hogwarts.

After the welcoming feast, the six friends met in the living room of the founders' quarters, together with Draco and Millicent, to hear about each others' holidays.

It was Draco who had the most shocking news. "My father has suddenly lost his magic," he told the others. "He spent a few weeks at St. Mungo's, but they don't only have no idea how it could have happened, they even can't do anything about it. You can't imagine how pissed off he is. He was such a proud pureblood, and all of a sudden, he's nothing more than a Squib."

Harry and Dudley efficiently feigned surprise, but Draco did not even seem to mind the matter.

"Draco, you look as if you didn't even care," Millicent finally asked, giving him a curious look.

Draco let out a long sigh. "My father has done many bad things in his life, and I really don't want to step into his footsteps. This situation now will probably help me avoid just this. I hope you believe me, but I'm very different from my father, although many people will associate the Malfoy name with the dark side."

"You're definitely different, Draco," Harry spoke up in a soft voice. "Your father's aura is black, while yours was grey when we first met, but it's white now."

Draco cast his friend a genuine smile. "Thanks Harry."

HP

The second half of the school year passed rather uneventfully. Dobby and Gina had arranged themselves well and were now both looking after the founders' quarters, where Harry and his friends still spent most of their free time.

 _'_ _Thank Merlin they get along so well,'_ Harry thought one day, as he observed the two elves playing Wizard's chess at the small table in Ceridwen's room. At first, the elves had protested when he suggested to them to play, knowing that they were not busy at all. However, Harry had assured them that they were allowed to have as much fun as possible when he did not need them and had introduced them to Wizard's chess and a couple of other games.

HP

Too soon for Harry's liking, it was time for him to take his Potions OWL, and as much as Severus reassured him that he would not have problems, he became more excited by the day.

"Don't worry, Harry," Lily told him in a soft voice, smiling at the upset boy in the morning before his exam. "If Professor Snape deems you fit to take the exam, you'll be able to do well."

"Thanks," Harry replied, returning the smile. _'She has become really beautiful,'_ he suddenly thought, when he looked at the girl who had been one of his best friends for almost seven years.

"Harry, is something wrong?" Lily asked in apparent concern, giving him a sharp look.

"Ah no," Harry said, quickly, before he blurted out, "You're very pretty."

HP

Like Severus and also Lily had predicted, the Potions OWL was no problem for Harry, and also Hagrid managed to take all of his OWLs with outstanding results.

"So from now on, I will make you brew sixth and seventh year potions, and you'll be able to take your NEWTs next summer," Severus told Harry, and the boy nodded, happily.

While Harry was staying in Remus' and Sybill's quarters during the holidays, at least until his friends were going to come back on time for his birthday and they would once again live in the founders' quarters, he spent much time speaking with Ceridwen in her portrait.

"Since you're so good at tampering with auras, you really ought to become a mind healer," his grandmother told him, causing Harry to become very thoughtful.

"I don't know yet. I'd also like to brew potions," he said, pensively, causing Ceridwen to chuckle.

"If you become a healer, believe me that you'll have a great advantage if you're good at brewing potions and don't have to rely on apothecaries. If you have the opportunity to get your Potions Mastery while you're still at school, do so," she advised him.

"Well, I hope that Severus will allow me to study for the Mastery once I have taken my Potions NEWT," Harry thought aloud.

"He certainly will," Ceridwen assured him and let him in on an idea about which she had been thinking ever since she had got to know that Harry shared her own abilities.

"That would be just amazing," Harry replied, staring at his grandmother in awe. "After my friends have taken their OWLs, I'll speak with them," he promised, eagerly.

HP

It was a few days before his friends were supposed to return to Hogwarts, and Harry was already becoming very excited, when the headline of the Daily Prophet caught his eye.

 _'_ _Breakout of the Wizarding Prison'  
'Sirius Black escapes from Azkaban'_

Harry exchanged a look with Remus. The Marauder had told him about Sirius Black, his parents' Secret Keeper, years ago. _'How did he escape? I thought Azkaban was absolutely safe,'_ he thought, feeling slightly unsettled at the idea that the one who had betrayed his parents escaped.

"Harry my boy, I'm sorry but as long as Sirius Black is on the loose, you won't be able to attend the Hogsmeade visits," the headmaster addressed Harry.

"And why might that be, headmaster?" Harry enquired in an upset voice.

"Because it's too dangerous for you, my boy," Dumbledore replied, simply, causing Harry to roll his eyes in annoyance.

"Don't worry, Harry," Remus spoke up, calmly. "Severus and I will either attend the Hogsmeade visits as additional chaperone, or we'll take you and one friend of your choice to Hogsmeade on the Sunday after the visit." He gave the Potions Master a questioning look.

"Exactly," Severus confirmed, smirking.

"Thank you Remus and Severus," Harry said, feeling very grateful towards the two older wizards, who both behaved to him like the father that he had never known.

"Who would you take with you then?" Dudley asked, curiously.

Harry shrugged. _'Maybe Lily,'_ he thought, and a small smile played on his lips, as he replied, "I don't know."

HP

The news about Sirius Black was a recurring topic at the head table, which was the only table in the Great Hall during the summer holidays, especially since the Daily Prophet brought up the matter on an almost daily basis.

Harry was not too worried about the matter, however. He had full confidence to Hogwarts, knowing that the castle would kick anyone out immediately who had bad intentions towards himself or his best friends. _'At Hogwarts, I'm completely safe,'_ he thought.

However, even when his friends spent the whole month of August at Hogwarts as usual, the children were not allowed to go to Hogsmeade just by themselves. At least one of the teachers had to accompany them. This was, however, not a big problem, as the teachers had time and knew that Harry and his six friends including Draco usually knew to behave themselves, so that always at least two of the adults volunteered when the group voiced the wish of visiting Hogsmeade once a week.

"They're really nice," Su said one day, "but still it would be nicer if we could go just by ourselves."

"Maybe when school begins again," Hermione said, smiling in anticipation.

"Only if they catch Black though, otherwise, Harry won't be allowed to go," Draco informed her.

HP

Unfortunately, by the end of the holidays, Black had yet to be captured, and the friends were thoroughly annoyed when the headmaster in combination with Minister Fudge placed Dementors onto the Hogwarts grounds in order to ensure that Black would not be able to enter the school and possible capture the convict.

"Are they nuts?" Lily uttered, when the friends discussed the matter in private later on. "Dementors are horrible."

"They suck all the happiness out of people," Neville added.

"Well, we'll just have to stay inside," Hermione voiced her opinion.

"What about Quidditch?" Draco asked.

"We just have to play," Harry added with a strange feeling of foreboding.

Due to the Dementors and the unsettling matter with Sirius Black, the friends for once decided to just stay at Hogwarts and not board the Hogwarts Express, which later on turned out to have been a good decision, since the train was stopped during the ride and searched by Dementors.

"Thank Merlin we remained here," Harry spoke out what everyone else thought upon hearing the news, while they were waiting for the other students to arrive.

HP

If Harry had already toyed with the thought of putting down his foot as the owner of Hogwarts and demand that the Dementors should be removed from the grounds, the first Quidditch match of the year was the last straw he needed to pull through with the idea.

The first Quidditch match, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, took place on a cold, rainy day in the middle of October. Harry circled above the match, barely able to recognise what was happening in the match below and completely unable to detect the Snitch in the low hanging clouds. All of a sudden, the air became much colder, and he felt really uncomfortable. He heard a woman cry, and just when he felt that he was going to black out, he thought, _'Accio Snitch! I'm going to take it to my grave with me.'_

The whole school observed in shock how Harry began to tumble down from above the lowest black clouds, when all of a sudden, a golden shine engulfed him, before he vanished from the spot before anyone noticed what was happening.

HP

When Harry's mind turned back to awareness, he immediately realised that he was lying on his bed in the founders' quarters. _'No other bed is so soft and has this smell of anise or whatever it is,'_ he thought. Something was pressing against his stomach, causing him to curiously open his eyes.

#That was dangerous,# the phoenix, who was perched on his stomach, suddenly scolded him.

"Thank you so much for saving my life," Harry replied, staring at the beautiful phoenix in amazement. It was a soul phoenix, just like himself in his Animagus form. "Animogli!" he realised in excitement. "You're Animogli, right?" he asked, urgently.

#Who else would I be, and you're welcome,# Animogli replied, fluffing his feathers. #I intended to come and bond with you in two years' time, but apparently, you couldn't wait,# he added, and all of a sudden, Harry felt the happiness from the bonding spread over his body. #I suggest that we move back outside, because the other chicks must be worried about you,# Animogli then added, causing Harry to sit up in shock.

"Oh right, let's go right away," he replied and quickly transformed into his own phoenix form, flashing outside together with Animogli.

His right hand was still gripping the Snitch in a firm grasp when he changed back into his human form.

"Sorry," he sheepishly apologized to Madam Hooch, as he handed her the Snitch, interrupting a vivid discussion between her and the two teams if the match should be continued or not.

"Harry Potter caught the Snitch," Hooch announced immediately. "Gryffindor wins."

Before anyone could do as much as congratulate Harry, he felt himself being pulled into a firm embrace. "Harry, how could you do that to me?" a tear-stricken voice asked. "I thought you were going to die!"

"Lily," Harry replied in a daze, freeing himself from the embrace enough to be able to look at the girl. "There's no need to cry," he said in a soft voice, gently wiping two tears from her cheek. "I'm fine."

"Thank Merlin," Lily replied. "I was so worried."

"Harry, are you all right?" Hermione finally managed to push herself between Lily and him.

"I'm fine," Harry reassured her. "Sorry for giving everyone a fright. I'll see to it that the Dementors will be removed from the Hogwarts grounds as soon as possible."

While the Gryffindors headed inside to celebrate their victory, Harry made his way into the founders' quarters. After a short conversation with Hogwarts about the Dementors to make sure that the castle shared his opinion, he wrote a letter to Amelia Bones.

 _'_ _Dear Madam Bones,  
In my position as the owner of Hogwarts, I demand that the Dementors will be removed from the Hogwarts grounds IMMEDIATELY.  
I don't know if you are responsible for them, but since I frankly speaking deem you much more trustworthy than the minister, I am writing to you. Will you please either forward my demand to whoever is responsible or teach me whom I should contact?  
Thank you very much in advance and best regards  
Harry Potter  
Owner of Hogwarts'_

 _'_ _I'm going to take the letter to her myself,'_ he decided and flashed to Amelia Bones' office at the Ministry of Magic. He observed how the older witch read his letter, her expression turning into anger, before a small smile crossed her face. Finally, she looked up at him.

"Are you Mr. Potter's familiar?" she enquired.

Harry moved his head up and down as a confirmation.

"Then please tell him that I'm honoured that he trusts me more than the minister and that I'll make sure to forward his request immediately," she informed him. "I'd have liked to know what caused his sudden decision though," she thought aloud. "I hope nothing bad happened."

Inwardly groaning, Harry flew down to the floor and changed into his human form. "I'm sorry for intruding, Madam Bones," he apologized.

"Mr. Potter," the witch acknowledged his presence in clear surprise. "You're a phoenix Animagus?"

"Yes, I'm a soul phoenix," Harry confirmed. "As to what happened is that the Dementors attacked me during the match, and if my phoenix familiar had not saved me from crashing into the ground, I wouldn't be here now."

"Oh Merlin," Bones said, clearly shocked by his revelation.

"Therefore, I believe that Dementors don't belong onto the school grounds," Harry added in a firm voice.

"Of course not, and I'll see to it that they will be removed today," the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement promised. "If they are for some reason still there at curfew tonight, please come to see me again," she added, pensively.

"I will. Thank you so much for your help once again," Harry said, smiling, before he took his leave, transformed back into his phoenix form and returned to Hogwarts.

At dinner, the headmaster announced that the Minister of Magic had – for unknown reasons – decided to pull the Dementors from Hogwarts, much to the students' relief.

HP

One Sunday afternoon, Harry and his friends were on the grounds playing Quidditch. Knowing that Oliver was going to graduate by the end of the school year, Dudley and Neville wanted to try out for the Keeper position, and their friends practised with them to ensure that one of them was going to get the position. Especially since Harry had witnessed a conversation between Ron and Seamus, in which Ron had told his friend that he intended to become Gryffindor's Keeper, he was determined to train Dudley and Neville, so that at least one of them would be better than Ronald.

Harry was sitting in the stands advising his friends instead of flying together with them, as it gave him a better perspective of their play.

"One day, you're going to make a good captain," Alicia Spinnet told Harry, when she came to observe the younger students' practice for a while. "Dudley is very good by the way. I think he'll be the one we want on the team next year."

"Thank you so much," Harry said, happily, knowing that Alicia would probably replace Oliver as captain from the following year onwards.

Alicia smiled and walked away towards the entrance doors, when Harry noticed that Crookshanks was roaming the grounds together with a dog. He was completely black, somehow looking like the grim, about which his classmates, who had taken Divination as elective subject, had told him and his friends.

 _'_ _Thank Merlin that I took Alchemy and Ancient Runes instead of Divination,'_ he thought, absentmindedly, as he observed Crookshanks and the dog play.

Finally, the two animals came to sit on the ground, apparently observing the students flying. By chance, they were sitting near enough to the stands for Harry to be able to recognise their auras.

Crookshanks' aura he already knew. It was white and green. However, the other aura, the one of the dog, was unexpected to say the least. It was white, yellow and green.

 _'_ _The dog is not a real dog, he's an Animagus,'_ Harry realised, _'just like Ron's stupid rat.'_

He pondered what to do. _'I could ask Hermione to speak with Crookshanks and ask him about the dog. Maybe he knows if it's a real dog,'_ he mused. _'Or I could change into my dog form and speak with him. Might be easier,'_ he finally decided, however, when he looked over to where the two animals had been sitting, they were already gone. He saw them playing with each other just in front of the first line of trees of the Forbidden Forest.

 _'_ _Oh well, I'll be able to speak with them at another time,'_ he resolved and turned his attention back to coaching Dudley and Neville.

 _'I wonder why so many Animagi are living in their Animagus forms,'_ he thought, when he went to bed that night.

 _'_ _Well, you lived in your phoenix form a whole summer, and it was really much fun, wasn't it?'_ a small voice spoke up from the back of his mind, causing Harry to unconditionally agree. _'Oh well, at least that dog's aura is white and not black like that of the rat,'_ he thought, as he drifted off to sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

**Soul Phoenix**  
 **by Healer Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. Rating M for multiple character deaths throughout this story.**

 _It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.  
_ _Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind feedback on the previous chapter!_

* * *

Apart from Potions, Harry found Professor Flamel's Alchemy class the most interesting, and Harry thought that his performance in the old wizard's class was quite adequate. Therefore, he was surprised when Nicholas Flamel kept him back after class on one Friday afternoon.

"Harry," he addressed the boy in a soft, gentle voice, "There's something that I'd like to speak with you about. It has nothing to do with this class."

"Oh thank Merlin," Harry blurted out. "I already thought I had done something wrong."

"No, on the contrary," Flamel reassured him. "You're doing extremely well. The other day, I have by chance overheard a conversation, in which came out that you're able to tamper with auras. Is that correct?"

"Yes," Harry admitted, hesitantly, wondering who might have let slipped that information, although it did not bother him that Flamel knew about it, as he completely trusted him and his wife.

"Apparently, you have healed Remus and your cousin from lycanthropy, is that right?" Flamel continued to ask.

"Yes sir," Harry replied in a small voice and, seeing the older wizard cast him a questioning look, explained, "I can see the aura of any person, and I can either change a colour or even just vanish it, which is what I did with the brown aura that stood for the lycanthropy."

"I wonder," Flamel said, pensively, "if you'd be able to heal someone from an insanity of mind."

"I don't know sir. I'd have to ask Ceridwen, my many times great grandmother. She's guarding the entrance to Remus' quarters," Harry replied, unsurely. "Or I'd need to meet that specific person and check their aura. Then I could try to do something about it."

"I don't know if you're aware of this, but the parents of your friend, Neville Longbottom, have been tortured to insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange, one of the Death Eaters, just a few days after your parents died," Flamel explained. "Ever since then, they have been at St. Mungo's. His grandmother told Perenelle and me about it a few days ago, and I was wondering if you might perhaps be able to do something for them."

"I can try," Harry offered, immediately. "If Professor Longbottom or someone can take me there, I can try to help them."

"Let's go and speak with her," Flamel suggested and, in a speed that did not give out his real age, strode towards the classroom door.

Harry followed the older wizard in a daze. _'It would be great if I could heal them,'_ he thought. He had never known why Neville had been living with his grandmother, and he had never asked, determined that Neville would tell him if he wanted him to know.

HP

During the following fifteen minutes, Nicholas Flamel convinced Augusta Longbottom to have Harry try and see if he could do something about the matter, and the old witch and Harry decided to make an excursion to St. Mungo's first thing in the morning. Together, they spoke with Professor McGonagall, who immediately allowed Harry to go and wished him good luck for his attempt.

"Are you going to take Neville as well?" she asked in a soft voice.

"Better not," Harry replied, sighing. "I don't know if I can help them, and I don't want him to get his hope up. If there's any improvement, we'll tell him and he'll be happy. Otherwise, he doesn't have to know about it."

"Yes, that's true," Professor Longbottom agreed.

They decided to not tell the healers anything but just visit Frank and Alice and have Harry check their auras. If he managed to heal them, it was still soon enough to inform the healers.

HP

Right after breakfast, Harry headed to the Wizarding Etiquette teacher's office, from where they took the Floo to St. Mungo's. Fortunately, Frank and Alice were alone when they arrived, and Augusta introduced Harry to her son and daughter-in-law, in spite of knowing that they would not comprehend anything anyway. While the old lady remained with her son, Harry sat on the chair by Alice's bed, knowing that Alice was his godmother.

He concentrated on the witch's aura, realising that it was white with a green frame. However, the edges of the white area were ragged and held a purple colour. _'It can only be the purple that needs to go,'_ Harry thought and set to work. Slowly, as to not deplete his magic, he began at one corner and wished the purple away until the white colour was just a normal white.

Stopping what he was doing, he slowly turned his eyes to his patient, just when his godmother looked at him and asked, "Hello, may I ask who you are?"

"Alice!" Augusta shouted in apparent delight, as she hurried around the bed.

"Please sit down," Harry advised the old lady, afraid that she might collapse from the excitement.

"What happened?" Alice asked in understandable confusion. "Where are we, and who is this? Where's Neville? Where's my baby?" she then enquired, suddenly sounding upset.

"I'm Harry," Harry replied in a soft voice, "your godson and one of Neville's best friends."

Alice stared at him in disbelief.

"Harry is the best friend I could imagine for Neville," Augusta spoke up, before she informed Alice about the torture she and her husband had suffered by the hands of Lestrange and that they had spent twelve years at St. Mungo's.

Seeing that Alice slowly calmed down, Harry quickly headed to Frank's bedside, feeling relieved when his aura resembled that of his wife, and slowly wished away the purple parts from his aura.

Unaware to Harry, Augusta and Alice were standing behind him observing how Frank's expression slowly returned to awareness.

While Harry and Alice filled Frank in on what happened, Augusta strode away to fetch the head healer of the hospital, knowing that it would need the head healer to get her children released on the spot.

Nevertheless, it took a couple of hours, during which healers examined Frank and Alice and the head healer questioned Harry in detail, before the Longbottoms were allowed to leave.

"The question is where you wish to go," Augusta said, pensively. "You won't be able to live at home just by yourselves, but I'm currently residing at Hogwarts, and I need to get the permission to have you staying in my rooms together with me. Sorry, this was so very sudden that I did not make any plans in advance."

"No, you won't need anyone's permission," Harry corrected her in a firm voice. "As I'm the owner of Hogwarts, you may do as you please, and I suggest that we take Frank and Alice to the founders' quarters, where they can use one of the double bedrooms, of which we have a lot."

"Harry, do you really not mind?" Augusta asked, giving Harry a sharp look.

"Of course not," Harry reassured the old witch, smiling.

HP

Just when they were gathering in front of the fireplace in the entrance hall to floo to Hogwarts, one of the healers tapped on Harry's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Potter, but head healer O'Brien wishes to once more speak with you before we can allow you to go away," he said, before he turned to the Longbottoms and informed them that they were free to leave.

"One moment," Harry replied and called Gina and Dobby. "Please prepare a room for Neville's parents. They're going to stay in the founders' quarters for a while. Maybe the one of Roxana and her husband, and please ask the founders to allow Professor Longbottom and her children into the founders' quarters and call Neville over."

"Yes Master Harry," the two elves shouted, simultaneously, and were gone with a crack.

"Please go ahead," Harry told Augusta Longbottom, before he followed the young healer to the head healer's office in annoyance.

HP

"Thank you for allowing me to speak with you once more," O'Brien said, motioning Harry to take a seat. Seeing that Harry looked at him in expectation, he explained, "I heard that you were also able to heal werewolves, and I was wondering if you'd be willing to heal some people from lycanthropy for us. As you might know, there are still hundreds of werewolves in Britain, and there's no remedy."

"I can do that," Harry replied, slowly. "Tampering with auras takes a lot of magic though, and I'd prefer to only heal one werewolf at a time. Even that is quite hard. When I cured Professor Lupin and my cousin, I used two sessions for each of them."

After a short discussion, they agreed that Harry should come to St. Mungo's every Sunday morning to heal one werewolf, whom O'Brien would invite for that purpose. The head healer also decided that the hospital would pay Harry one thousand Galleons for each werewolf who was cured from lycanthropy, and while Harry tried to refuse the payment, the head healer did not accept the treatment for free.

"I have a different favour that I'd like to ask you about," Harry voiced, hesitantly, and informed the head healer about Ceridwen's idea for his future.

"With great pleasure," O'Brien replied, smiling. "I appreciate your plan very much, and I assure you the full support of St. Mungo's. You will receive my promise in writing when you come here to heal the first werewolf on Sunday next week. I won't have you come here tomorrow, as you probably already used a lot of magic to cure the Longbottoms."

Harry agreed and, feeling quite contented with himself, left through the head healer's fireplace with the instruction to always come straight to O'Brien's office to meet the werewolves.

HP

Back at Hogwarts, Harry spent the afternoon together with his friends and Neville's family in the living room of the founders' quarters to celebrate Frank's and Alice's newly found freedom.

Only when he stepped in front of the window and saw Crookshanks and her dog friend run over the grounds, he remembered the matter with the dog Animagus. _'Oh right, I wanted to speak with Crookshanks,'_ he recalled.

At dinner time, Augusta suggested that Alice and Frank should accompany her to the Great Hall, so that she could inform the headmaster and the deputy headmistress that they had been cured.

"Especially Minerva will be extremely happy," she said, knowing that her best friend had always been very sad about her children's fate.

"Please don't tell anyone that I healed them," Harry said, pleadingly. "I don't mind letting Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall in on the matter, but otherwise I don't want anyone to know that I can change auras."

"We'll only tell those two," Augusta promised, reassuringly.

"Harry," Alice spoke up, gently pulling the boy into a fierce hug. "I can't thank you enough for what you did for us."

"You're welcome, godmother," Harry replied, smiling.

HP

Right after dinner, Harry excused himself from his friends for a moment and headed out onto the grounds, transforming into his dog form, as soon as he had stepped through the large entrance doors.

 _'_ _Oh I should have looked where they are before transforming,'_ he soon realised, seeing that he had absolutely no overview over the grounds as close to the ground as his eyes were in his Crup form. Before he could decide how to proceed, his dog instincts took over, and he slowly made his way over to the lake, sniffing here and there, before he almost stopped dead in his tracks. There they were.

Crookshanks and her dog friend were both curled up close together on the shore of the lake, apparently enjoying a nap in the rays of the evening sun that was soon supposed to disappear for the night.

Knowing that he had enough time before the beginning of curfew, Harry simply lay down on Crookshanks' other side, causing the feline and the canine to stir.

=Hi Harry,= Crookshanks greeted him friendly. =It's about time that you came to play with us.=

=Will you introduce your dog friend to me?= Harry enquired, wondering if the cat knew that the dog was no real canine.

=Harry, this is Sirius Black,= Crookshanks explained, causing Harry's eyes to widen. =Sirius, this is Harry Potter. Why don't you ask him to get the rat for you. Maybe it'll be easier for him in his human form than for me,= the Kneazle suggested.

=Harry?= the other dog enquired in apparent surprise and also delight.

=I don't understand,= Harry said, crossly. =You're a murderer, but your aura is white. That's impossible.=

The other dog let out a small growl. =I'm not a murderer, Harry. I wasn't their Secret Keeper. It was Peter. He's a rat Animagus. He's the youngest Weasley boy's pet.=

=Ahh, that's why that rat is an Animagus,= Harry replied in understanding.

=Please believe me,= Sirius added, causing Harry to shudder at the thought of the rat.

=Of course I believe you. You're not bad, but that rat has a black aura. I've despised him since I first met him,= Harry reassured the older dog. _'And I've taken his magic from him,'_ he recalled in amusement. =All right, I'll go and try to catch it,= he added, resolutely, before he dashed inside the castle and straight up to the tower. Only in front of the common room did he change back into his human form.

He quickly pulled Dudley into the boys' bathroom and informed him about the dog and rat Animagi, before he asked, "Dudley, will you help me capture the rat?"

"Of course," his cousin reassured him, and the two boys hurried into their dormitory.

Harry sighed in relief upon realising that the rat was fast asleep on Ronald's pillow.

"Wait," Dudley whispered and cast a stunning spell at the small animal, before Harry scooped it up, gave the traitorous animal a look of pure disgust, before he slid it into his robe pocket.

"Thanks Dud," he breathed in relief, causing the other boy to smile.

"It was my pleasure," he replied. "Now where are we supposed to deliver it?"

"The grounds," Harry informed him, and together, the two boys strode through the common room.

Five minutes later, they were on their way to the lake, when the dog who looked like a grim stepped into their way. Dudley and Harry both transformed into their canine forms.

=This is my cousin Dudley,= Harry explained. =He helped me capture the rat. So what are we going to do now? Shall we go and speak with Professor Dumbledore?=

=Are you sure that he'll believe me?= Sirius enquired, sceptically.

=If I tell him about your aura and that of the rat, he will,= Harry reassured the older dog, before he transformed back into his human form.

Dudley immediately followed his example, while Sirius decided to accompanied them in his dog form. _'Just to be sure,'_ Harry thought in understanding, as he lead Sirius to the headmaster's office, hoping that the headmaster was – for once – willing to listen.

HP

Before they reached the gargoyle in front of Dumbledore's office, Dudley transformed back into his canine form, mumbling something like =Maybe safer for Sirius if there are two dogs=.

Looking at the two canines with a combination of surprise and annoyance, Harry greeted the gargoyle that sprang aside immediately – like it always did upon his appearance.

Fortunately, the headmaster was in his office and greeted him friendly, giving him a curious look at the sight of his two companions.

"Professor," Harry began to speak in a stern voice, dismissing the offered lemon drop with an impatient wave of his hand."You are aware of my abilities to recognise auras, aren't you?"

"Yes my boy, indeed," Dumbledore replied, seemingly curious.

"With the help of my ability as well as a conversation with Crookshanks, Hermione's Kneazle, and Sirius Black, I've found out that Sirius Black is completely innocent of everything that they accused him of," Harry explained. Ignoring the headmaster's gasp, he continued, "Pettigrew is the one who is guilty of all these murders. He…"

"Harry, my boy," Dumbledore interrupted him in a soft voice. "Peter Pettigrew is dead."

"No, he's not," Harry contradicted firmly, pulling the stunned rat out of his robe pocket. "This is Peter Pettigrew in his Animagus form. His aura is black and shows that he's an Animagus. Plus he's missing a toe, which equals the finger that was found of him. Will you please force him back into his human form and question him?"

Dumbledore gave the rat a sharp look, before glancing at the dogs. "May I assume that one of the canines is Sirius Black then?" he enquired.

"Yes sir," Harry confirmed. "Will you promise me that you hear him out and question Pettigrew before doing anything to him, sir?"

"I promise," the headmaster replied in his soft, grandfatherly voice, in which he used to speak with Harry if they for once agreed with something.

"Sirius, please change back," Harry advised his godfather, causing Sirius and Dudley to transform back into their human forms.

HP

Harry observed with a combination of excitement and disgust how Dumbledore pointed his wand at the rat and made it unwillingly change into a small man. _'My parents' betrayer,'_ his mind screamed. However, Harry did not voice his thoughts, but merely gave the man a glare of absolute loathing.

Suddenly, Pettigrew turned to him and began to speak. "Harry, I never wanted to betray them," he began to sniffle. "Please don't give me to the Dementors. I will…"

Harry never got to know what Pettigrew was going to promise, as Sirius interrupted him in clear anger.

"Of course you're going to spend the rest of your sorry life in Azkaban, where I suffered the last twelve years because of you," Sirius shouted, before he turned to Dumbledore. "Headmaster, will you please call the Aurors and will have both of us questioned under Veritaserum?"

"I shall do that right away," Dumbledore promised and headed to the fireplace.

Two minutes later, Aurors Dora Tonks and Shacklebolt joined them.

"Dora," Harry happily greeted his friend, who first looked at him and Dudley and then at Sirius in clear surprise.

"Hiya Harry, Dudley, Sirius," she said with a smile crossing her face and her hair changing to a bright pink orange colour of apparent excitement.

In the meantime, Dumbledore had called Severus to bring a phial of Veritaserum, and while they were waiting for the Potions Master to arrive, he filled in the Aurors about Harry's findings concerning Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew.

The questioning went smoothly, as Pettigrew under the influence of the Veritaserum admitted everything that Sirius had been accused for, and the Aurors saw no need to even question Sirius.

"You're both going to have a trial during the next couple of days," Shacklebolt told Sirius and Pettigrew and instructed Dora to send Pettigrew to a ministry holding cell via Portkey.

However, before Dora could even get to Pettigrew, the evil man grabbed Harry's wand out of his robe pocket and tried to change back into his rat form – to no avail. Harry used the moment of clear shock on Pettigrew's face to take his wand back, before he explained, chuckling, "He's not able to transform back into his rat form, because I made him a Squib."

"What?" Shacklebolt asked in irritation, while Dora sent Pettigrew away with the Portkey.

"Please keep this matter strictly to yourselves," Dumbledore spoke up in a no-nonsense voice. "Mr. Potter is able to change people's auras. I suppose that's what you did to him, right Harry?"

"Yes sir," Harry confirmed, causing Sirius and Dora to laugh aloud.

"That might cause problems though," Shacklebolt mumbled, before he enquired, "May I trust you to keep Mr. Black safe here at Hogwarts until the trial?"

"We will," Harry promised, before Dumbledore even had a chance to reply.

"May I ask that this matter will be kept confidential until the trial?" Dumbledore asked and explained that he would only let his deputy in on the secret and that the Aurors were of course allowed to inform their colleagues as well as Madam Bones, causing the Aurors to agree.

Nodding contentedly, Shacklebolt excused himself and left together with Dora, promising to inform Harry and the headmaster of the date of the trial as soon as possible, as at least Harry would be called as a witness.

"Professor, may I suggest for Sirius to be allowed to stay in the founders' quarters together with the Longbottoms until his trial?" Harry asked, politely, knowing that the headmaster did not have much say about it anyway, considering that they were inside Hogwarts.

"Yes my boy," Dumbledore agreed, however, suggested that Harry should take Sirius to Madam Pomfrey first, as he seemed to be in dire need of some medical attention after his long stay in the wizarding prison.

HP

To Harry's chagrin, Poppy kept Sirius and kicked Harry and Dudley out right away, pointing out that curfew had already began. However, she allowed them to come back in the morning and visit Sirius.

"Oh no," Harry suddenly groaned, as a thought crossed his mind. "We have to explain to Ronald what happened to his rat."

"Oh Merlin, he'll be so pleased and accuse us of having done something to him," Dudley agreed. "Well, we can always send him to Dumbledore to have everything explained."

"Yes, that's true," Harry concurred. "And we can offer to buy him a new pet next Saturday. I'm sure Remus or Severus will take us to Diagon Alley for that purpose."

"Or even Sirius," Dudley added, grinning.

To their relief, Ronald was already asleep, when they entered the dormitory, and they decided to have McGonagall handle the matter in the morning.

"Too bad that we can't inform the twins about it," Harry said, sighing, and Dudley agreed full heartedly.

HP

When Harry and Dudley arrived in the Great Hall together with their friends in the morning, they found a very irate headmaster waiting for them. "Come," he instructed them and led them into the antechamber, the twinkle from the previous evening vanished from his eyes.

Harry and Dudley exchanged a surprised look, wondering what they had done wrong.

HP

"Excuse me sir," Harry began to ask, when Dumbledore pointed at the copy of the Daily Prophet that was spread out on a side board.

 _'_ _A mere school boy able to turn wizards and witches into Squibs? What kind of magic is taught at Hogwarts nowadays?'_ the headline screamed in red letters.

Below was a detailed report about what had happened in the headmaster's office the previous evening.

"How could Miss Skeeter know about this?" Dumbledore enquired, giving the boys a stern look.

"We didn't speak with anyone sir," Harry was the first to respond, before Dudley asked, "Who in the world is Miss Skeeter?"

"She's the one who's name is under the article," Harry pointed out. "The Aurors…"

"No," Dumbledore interrupted him, already sounding less upset at the boys' obvious innocence. "In fact, Madam Bones called me this morning, before I had even read the article. It's not only that the matter with Messrs. Black and Pettigrew was published, but also that that the article reveals your special ability, which makes me very concerned."

"It's not such a big deal," Harry said in a small voice, making Dumbledore look at him in clear shock.

"Oh no Harry, if the wrong people read this, it is a big deal, and believe me, the Daily Prophet is well read among Britain's magical world."

Harry groaned, realising that him being able to read auras had to be his secret ability which was mentioned in the prophecy, before another thought crossed his mind.

"Oh no, Mr. Malfoy will know that it was me who caused him to lose his magic," he blurted out, horrified.

"Yes," Dumbledore agreed, sternly. "Very well, since the two of you don't seem responsible for this mess, you may go. I'll try to find out how Miss Skeeter received this very confidential information," he added in a softer voice, even if the twinkle did not return to his eyes.

"Sir, is it possible that one of the portraits in your office informed someone?" Harry enquired.

"We'll see," Dumbledore promised, as he dismissed the children. "If Mr. Malfoy contacts you about this through any means, please come to see me at any time. We'll deal with this together," he added as an afterthought.

"Thank you Professor," Harry added, for once feeling very grateful towards the headmaster for being willing to help me out of the current mess.

HP

Lucius Malfoy was evil, however, not exactly stupid. Mere ten hours later, Harry received a letter from Amelia Bones, in which she asked her to come to see her in his phoenix form as soon as possible.

"This means trouble," Harry whispered to his friends and left the Great Hall, not caring that he had only just begun to eat his dinner. As soon as he closed the door behind himself, he transformed into his phoenix form and flashed right into Madam Bones' office.

"Mr. Potter," the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement greeted him as friendly as usual. "Thank you for coming so quickly."

"Do we have a problem?" Harry asked, looking at the witch in concern.

"We might have a problem, yes," she admitted, before she asked, "Is it true that you're able to change wizards to Squibs?"

Harry inwardly groaned. "Yes, I can do that, but I only did it twice and only to bad wizards, who really deserved it," he admitted. "Both were Death Eaters."

Amelia cast him a surprised look. "Mr. Malfoy claimed that he had been under the Imperius Curse when he took the Dark Mark. How do you know that he really was a Death Eater?"

Harry shook his head. "If he had not have evil intentions at that time, his aura wouldn't be black," he replied in a firm voice. "Moreover, auras can change if people improve like for example, with Draco Malfoy. When I got to know him, his aura was grey, but now it's white. Another example is Professor Snape. When I first met him, his aura was still black, but over the years, it has changed to white. And it wasn't me. I didn't do anything to them."

Madam Bones remained pensive for a moment. "Why exactly did you make Mr. Malfoy a Squib?" she finally enquired, looking at him with an expression of curiosity and concern.

"Because he smuggled an evil book into Hogwarts with a sixteen-year-old version of Voldemort inside. Only because of Hogwarts' help I found out about it and was able to destroy the book. Fifty years ago, Voldemort managed to get a girl killed, and apparently Mr. Malfoy wanted similar things to happen now."

"How do you know that it was Mr. Malfoy who brought the book into Hogwarts?" the older witch enquired.

"First because of Dobby's warning, and secondly, because he accepted the book from me when I told him that I had something that belonged to him," Harry explained, looking to the side in surprise, when Dobby appeared with a loud crack.

"Did the great Harry Potter call Dobby?" the elf asked in apparent excitement.

"Madam Bones, this is Dobby, the former Malfoy house-elf," Harry introduced the elf and told the witch how he had tricked Lucius Malfoy into freeing Dobby.

Amelia was unable to suppress a smile, which, however, vanished when she explained that Mr. Malfoy paid her a visit earlier and accused Harry of making him a Squib. He wanted to have a trial and possibly have Harry being sent to Azkaban.

Before Harry could show any reaction whatsoever, Dobby blurted out, "Dobby wills deals with bad, evil former master Lucius." With that, the elf popped away.

"You could use the argument that you acted in your position as the owner of Hogwarts and wanted to punish him for endangering hundreds of students in such a way," Amelia said, pensively, just when Dobby reappeared, looking very much contented.

"Bad, evil former master Lucius does not remember anything beyond his first day at Hogwarts," Dobby informed Amelia and Harry, receiving incredulous looks in return.

"Won't he be able to reverse the charm?" Amelia queried, looking at Dobby in concern.

"No Madam Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," Dobby replied. "No wizard can cancel an elf's spell or charm. It's too strong."

"Well, then I know nothing," Amelia stated, dryly. "Thank Merlin that Fudge wasn't here today, otherwise we'd need to send Dobby to obliviate him as well."

"Thank you so very much, Dobby," Harry said, warmly. "You've done me a great favour today."

"Dobby would do anything for the great Harry Potter," Dobby replied, proudly showing the Potter and the Hogwarts crest to Amelia Bones.

"Very well, let's forget this matter then," Amelia decided and informed him that Sirius' and Pettigrew's trial was going to take place on Monday morning.

"It should be an easy trial though, shouldn't it?" Harry asked, motioning Dobby to return to Hogwarts.

"The one for Mr. Black yes, for Mr. Pettigrew we'll have to see" was the disturbing response.


	14. Chapter 14

**Soul Phoenix**  
 **by Healer Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. Rating M for multiple character deaths throughout this story.**

 _It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.  
_ _Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind feedback on the previous chapter!_

* * *

Harry decided to not tell anyone what Dobby had done to Lucius Malfoy. _'We'll see what Draco says when he finds out that his father doesn't remember him,'_ he thought, feeling very much guilty about the older wizard's predicament. _'Even if he was evil, he was still his father,'_ he thought, remorsefully.

"What did Madam Bones want?" Lily asked, when he joined the others in the founders' living room.

"Ah, she told me that the trial for Sirius and the rat will be on Monday morning," Harry replied, knowing that it was not exactly a lie. "She told me it would be an easy one for Sirius."

"Thank Merlin," Dudley added, grinning, "considering that he's your godfather."

"Oh that reminds me," Harry suddenly remembered, "Aunt Poppy was going to release him tonight. So I should go and fetch him here."

Dudley followed him, and twenty minutes later, the cousins returned with Sirius in tow. He looked much better than before and was in a good mood, making everyone laugh about his stories from his own time as a student at Hogwarts.

"Mr. Black," Hermione suddenly spoke up, "what …"

"Please call me Sirius," Sirius interrupted her, grinning.

"All right then, Sirius," Hermione began again, "what are you going to do now?"

Sirius remained pensive for a moment, before he replied, "I'm first going to wait for the trial to be over. Then I'll think about it. Before, I was an Auror, but I don't think that I want to do that anymore, considering that the system is corrupt enough to throw me into Azkaban without as much as a trial."

"That's fully understandable," Lily spoke up in a soft voice. "How about remaining at Hogwarts in some position?"

"If there is one, I'd love that," Sirius admitted, giving the girl a curious look.

"Well Sirius, I don't know if you're aware of the fact that I'm the owner of Hogwarts," Harry said, thoughtfully. "So we can just invent a position for you. Let me speak with the founders, my friends and Remus and Severus. Maybe we can come up with something. I'd also like to occupy the Longbottoms."

"Thanks Harry. That would be great," Neville said, giving Harry a hopeful look.

"Can Hogwarts afford hiring so many people?" Sue enquired.

"Yes," Harry assured the girl. "Definitely. We only need to think of useful positions, and frankly speaking, I already have a couple of ideas right now."

"As much as I'd like to hear them, curfew is going to begin in five minutes," Draco shouted in excitement, as he jumped from the sofa and made a beeline for the door, closely followed by Millicent.

"Oh Merlin, we need to hurry," Hermione added, causing everyone except for Harry and Dudley to rush behind the two Slytherins.

"Don't worry, I'll just flash Dudley and myself back into the dormitory," Harry told Lily and Hermione, who seemed to be torn between hurrying and waiting for them. "Sirius, we have a lot of free rooms here, so you can just choose one," he turned to his godfather and showed him the room that Frank and Alice were occupying.

"Where are they?" Sirius asked, curiously, having heard about the Longbottoms' torture and recent rescue.

"Probably in Augusta Longbottom's quarters," Dudley informed him.

"They should return here shortly though," Harry added and introduced Sirius to Gina and Dobby, who were both enthusiastic to meet Sirius, Gina because she knew him from when Harry's parents were still alive and Dobby because he was the great Harry Potter's godfather.

HP

On Monday morning, Remus accompanied Harry to the Ministry of Magic for Sirius' and Pettigrew's trial. While he was relieved to have his guardian with him, Harry felt outright scared of having to explain about his ability of recognising auras. _'Who knows what they're going to do to me because I made that rat a Squib?'_ he could not help worrying. _'I was lucky with Lucius Malfoy, but Dobby won't be able to help me this time,'_ he thought.

"Harry," Remus spoke up, apparently noticing his apprehension, "don't worry. Everything will be all right."

"What if…" Harry shared his concern with his guardian, however, Remus reassured him that the Wizengamot would not put a thirteen-year-old into Azkaban for taking the magic off his parents' murderer. When they entered the courtroom, Harry stared at the large room in shock. In contrary to Hagrid's trial a year earlier, the trial was open to the public, and many had come to see the betrayer of Lily and James Potter convicted.

HP

At the same time, Lucius Malfoy woke up in his bed at Malfoy Manor. He knew that he was a the manor, but he could not understand why he was not in his own room but in his parents', which looked completely different from what he remembered, and he was wondering where his mother was. She never left him alone.

 _'_ _Maybe she thinks that I'm at Hogwarts,'_ he thought. _'In fact, I should be at Hogwarts in my dormitory in Slytherin,'_ he recalled and quickly got dressed, noticing with bewilderment that he was much larger than he remembered. His stature was that of an adult.

He looked for his wand and noticed that it was lying on the table in front of the window, causing him to wonder why he had not placed it on his night table like he used to do. Alongside was a cane, and Lucius speculated to whom it might belong. _'It must be amazing to possess such a cane,'_ he thought, as he readied himself to go out.

Knowing that he was not allowed to use the Floo just by himself, he left the manor, confirming that his wand was safely tucked in his robe pocket. He walked a few minutes, thoroughly enjoying the fresh air of the late autumn morning, before he waved his wand to call the Knight Bus.

However, as long as he waited with growing impatience, the Knight Bus did not show up, and Lucius finally decided to walk in the direction of Diagon Alley in order to receive some help to get to Hogwarts.

After a few minutes, he found himself surrounded by a group of muggle school children. If he despised muggles, there was nothing worse than their offsprings, and when the children pointed at him laughing about his wizarding attire, he saw red.

He pulled his wand and cast a dark spell, which his father had taught him before leaving for Hogwarts, at three of the kids. Unfortunately, it did not seem to have the desired effect. On the contrary, the only consequence that it had at all was that two adults, _'probably the brats' teachers',_ walked up to him and asked what he was doing.

His expression turned to a sneer, as he responded, "Trying to teach these little brats some manners."

"They seem to have better manners than you," one of the young ladies replied. "At least they're dressed properly. Halloween was two weeks ago."

"Halloween?" Lucius enquired in surprise.

"You're dressed as if you were going to a Halloween party, and that on a Monday morning," the teacher informed him, crisply. "You should rather go to work."

"Why would I go to work? I'm only eleven and have only just entered a boarding school, and I'm dressed in my usual decent clothes. I'm a pureblood wizard and not a simple muggle like the lot of you," Lucius sneered, looking at the children in disgust.

Unaware of the fact that the other teacher had in the meantime used a walkie-talkie, a muggle device of which Lucius was not privy, to make a call for help, he looked up in surprise when an ambulance pulled up right next to him and the group of children.

"Thanks for coming so quickly," the teacher said to the driver. "This man is crazy and a danger to our children."

"All right then," the driver replied and got off the car to lead him, Lucius, inside.

"Take me to Hogwarts," Lucius demanded, causing the muggle to smirk.

"I'm going to take you to the mental hospital, where you'll get a nice room for yourself. Call it Hogwarts or whatever if you wish," the man replied, as he drove off in full speed.

HP

To Harry's relief, Amelia Bones was leading the trial. She immediately ordered that Sirius would be questioned under Veritaserum, which turned out to be proof enough for the Wizengamot to clear Sirius of all charges. He was granted a compensation of one million Galleons and was offered his former position as an Auror back.

Sirius politely declined the offer with the same reason that he had already given Harry and his friends.

After a short break, during which Sirius joined Harry, Remus and Dora Tonks, who was sitting on Harry's other side, Pettigrew's trial began.

Madam Bones proceeded in the same way as with Sirius' trial and had Pettigrew questioned under Veritaserum. The majority of the Wizengamot found him guilty, however, when the verdict was discussed, one of the wizards who were sitting together in one corner and had been reluctant to admit Sirius' innocence earlier, spoke up.

"As we all know from the Daily Prophet, Mr. Pettigrew has been turned a Squib, and a Squib can't be sent to Azkaban."

"Em em," a voice made itself heard, and Harry recognised the witch in the pink robes with disgust. _'Umbridge, the trouble maker witch,'_ he thought in annoyance.

"Moreover," Umbridge added, "Mr. Potter should be sent to the prison because of turning an adult wizard a Squib."

Madam Bones turned to Harry. "Mr. Potter, can you please shortly explain why you turned Mr. Pettigrew a Squib?"

Harry rose from his chair. "Because he was responsible for my parents' death, had a black aura that proved that he was a Death Eater and spent his time as a rat Animagus in a school full of children out of his own free will. I found that too dangerous and thus tried to make him a Squib. I don't know if I fully succeeded, since I've never tried such a thing before," he explained, forcing himself to remain as calm as possible.

"Thank you Mr. Potter," Madam Bones replied and turned to the Wizengamot. "I believe that Mr. Potter's explanation is very reasonable and does not warrant for any kind of punishment in this case."

To Harry's relief, the majority of the Wizengamot agreed. _'Strange that Lucius Malfoy isn't here. Even as a Squib, he's unlikely to give up his position on the Wizengamot. Oh well, the memory charm…'_ He was brought out of his musings, when Umbridge spoke again.

"He should at least be expelled from Hogwarts and his magic be bound," Umbridge demanded, however, it was the Minister of Magic himself who contradicted.

"Mr. Potter has been using this ability with great success and for a good cause," Fudge spoke up and informed the auditorium that Harry had healed the Longbottoms and was now working together with St. Mungo's to heal all werewolves from lycanthropy.

"Exactly. Therefore, we will do nothing against Mr. Potter," Amelia Bones stated in a firm voice. "Apart from that, Mr. Potter is the owner of Hogwarts and therefore cannot be expelled anyway."

Finally, it was decided that Pettigrew should be sent directly through the Veil, since he could not be taken to Azkaban.

"Thank Merlin," Sirius blurted out. "That rat has caused enough trouble."

HP

During the following weeks, Sirius spent his time together with Alice and Frank Longbottom, while all three recovered from their sufferings over the last twelve years.

In the meantime, Harry discussed various plans with his friends as well as with Remus and Severus and the founders about possible new positions at Hogwarts.

While Rowena suggested having Latin as a subject, as it would help enormously with charms and spells, Helga advised him to replace the head of the houses by new staff, who had no teaching responsibilities but were solely responsible for the members of their houses. She pointed out that their system had worked out well in their own time, but that the numbers of the students had increased tenfold over the millennium, and that the current heads of the houses had too much work to look after so many students.

Harry full heartedly agreed and decided that one person should only have one responsibility, not two or even three like in case of Professor McGonagall.

After many discussions with his friends and advisors over the following months, Harry decided to make Frank Longbottom the professor for Latin, Sirius the new deputy headmaster and Alice Longbottom the Gryffindor head of house.

"We still need three heads of the houses," he stated, matter-of-factly, when they were all sitting together in the founders' quarters a few days before the end of the school year.

"When are you going to announce everything?" Hermione enquired.

"At the leaving feast," Harry replied in determination. "Dumbledore won't like it though."

"Especially not that he'll have to work together with me," Sirius spoke up, grinning.

"Oh Merlin," Alice added, chuckling.

"Severus, Remus, are there any promising seventh-years, whom we could ask about the head of house positions?" Harry queried, quirking an eyebrow at his mentors.

"Penelope Clearwater," Remus spoke up. "She's a seventh-year Ravenclaw, and I believe that she'd make a good head of house."

"Yes," Severus agreed immediately. "She might have other plans already though, considering that she's going to graduate in three days' time."

"Yes, sorry, I'm a bit late," Harry replied, sheepishly. "Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"

"Rose Greengrass," Severus supplied. "She's a cousin of Daphne Greengrass who's in your year."

"The Hufflepuff seventh-years are a group of trouble makers," Remus said, pensively. "The only person with leading material would be Cedric Diggory, however, he's only a fifth year."

"Maybe we could ask Professor Sprout if she's willing to oversee Hufflepuff together with him for another two years until he graduates, provided that he doesn't have other plans," Lily suggested, causing Harry to nod in agreement.

"Harry, don't you think that it might be uninteresting for them to just become heads of the houses after taking their NEWTs?" Hermione spoke up. "Without any teaching option I mean."

Harry sighed. "First of all, they very well need to teach, as they're supposed to help their students if they have problems with assignments and other matters. Secondly, they're members of the staff and will be preferred for any vacant teaching positions. Provided that they'll put the head of house things first, they're very welcome to use their free time to, for example, study for a mastery in their favourite subject," he explained, giving the girl a questioning look.

"Oh that's all right then," Hermione replied, smiling. "That sounds like an amazing position then."

"All right, it's Penelope Clearwater, Rose Greengrass and Cedric Diggory then," Harry resumed the conversation. "I'll go and speak with the three of them right away. Gina," he called. "Can you please ask Rose Greengrass from Slytherin to meet me…" He interrupted himself turning to Severus. "Severus, where's the nearest unused classroom to the Slytherin common room?"

The Potions Master smirked. "Tell her to come to my office," he advised Gina.

Harry agreed and transformed into his phoenix form to flash to the Potions Master's office together with Severus.

"I hope all three of them will agree," Harry said after transforming back.

"Well, in the worst case you'll still have to use the old heads and try again next year. Maybe begin asking a little earlier," Severus replied, smirking.

HP

To Harry's relief, Penelope, Rose and Cedric all agreed to become the head of their house from the following school year onwards, and Harry promised that he would provide them with a contract either through the headmaster or by himself by the leaving feast.

First thing in the morning, he went to see Professor Sprout and informed her about his decision to hire wizards and witches without teaching position for the head of house work, asking her to keep the matter to herself for the time being, as he had not spoken with the headmaster and his deputy yet.

"That's not a problem, Mr. Potter," Sprout replied in a soft voice. "I have enough work teaching and keeping up with the greenhouses anyway."

"I have chosen Cedric Diggory as the Hufflepuff head of house," Harry continued, "however, I'd like to ask you if you were willing to assist him until his graduation. At the same time, I wish to offer you to hire a student assistant for your work with the greenhouses."

Sprout stared at him with apparent surprise. "Oh Mr. Potter, that would be amazing," she said, seemingly happy. "Am I free to choose someone from any house?" she then enquired and, when Harry confirmed, stated, "Neville Longbottom then. I haven't asked him yet, of course, but I hope that he'll agree. He's by far the best student I had in a long time."

Harry smiled, knowing that Neville would be thrilled to become Sprout's student assistant. "He'll be very happy, and I'm sure that he'll agree," he replied and promised to send Neville to her right after breakfast.

HP

During breakfast, Harry quietly informed Neville, causing a huge smile to spread over his face, which he turned to face Professor Sprout at the head table nodding with clear enthusiasm.

 _'_ _That's good. With that, all professors who still have more responsibilities than to just teach their classes, have an assistant,'_ Harry thought, contentedly, deciding that he would officially take the position of a student assistant to Severus. Even if he had already worked as one, so far he had refused to make it official.

He decided to speak with Professor McGonagall next, not only because he felt sorry for the professor who would be robbed not only of her head of house position but also of that as deputy headmistress, but also because he knew that once she agreed with his plans, she would help him convince the headmaster. _'Well, it doesn't really matter if we can convince Dumbledore, as I'm the one to make the decisions. On the other hand, I don't want a fight with him,'_ he thought.

Deciding to act right away, he stepped over to the head table to ask McGonagall if she had time for him after the last afternoon class.

"Of course Mr. Potter," the Scottish lioness replied, giving him a surprised look, to which Harry chose to not respond.

"Mr. Potter, he seems to agree," Sprout spoke up, chuckling.

"Oh, he's over the moon with joy," Harry replied, grinning broadly as he returned to the Gryffindor table.

HP

After Alchemy, which was his last afternoon class, Harry explained his new plan to Professor McGonagall, observing how the teacher's emotions changed from surprise over disappointment and finally to relief, as she realised that everyone was only going to have one position in the future.

"That's a good plan," she finally agreed.

"I suppose that the position of the Transfiguration professor is the one that you wish to keep?" Harry asked, offering to make any possible change that his head of house wished to have made.

"Yes Harry, even if I'm a Gryffindor through and through, the most important of my tasks is the Transfiguration professor position," McGonagall agreed without even having to consider the matter. "Thank you very much for giving me the choice though."

Harry shook his head. "It's not as if I wanted to rob anyone of any position or such. It's just that I want to improve things for the students. They need someone as head of house who doesn't have other obligations and really has time for them. Do you believe that Mrs. Longbottom is adequate for the position?" he finally asked.

"Alice Longbottom is a wonderful choice as head of Gryffindor," McGonagall confirmed, smiling.

Seeing that they still had some minutes left before dinner, Harry quickly discussed the other new staff members with the teacher, and McGonagall approved all of his choices. Only concerning Sirius as the new deputy headmaster, she voiced her doubts.

"This will only work if he shows a reasonable attitude and is willing to engross himself in his work," she said, reluctantly. "He's a very good boy, but he did nothing but nonsense at school."

"Oh well, let's hope that it'll work out," Harry replied, sighing. "At least he's now twenty years older, and I think that Professor Dumbledore will be able to make him work properly. If not, we'll have to re-think about it."

"Does Professor Dumbledore know about the changes that you're planning?" McGonagall enquired.

"No Professor," Harry admitted. "I wanted to speak with those who are directly affected and then hear your opinion first, and I'd also like to ask you to join us for this conversation."

His still head of house nodded in understanding. "That might be better," she agreed and suggested to meet in the headmaster's office after dinner the following evening. "Tonight he won't be there, as he has to attend an urgent meeting of the Wizengamot," she added, more to herself than to Harry.

"Busybodies," Harry could not help himself from commenting, causing the teacher to cast him an amused look.

"Lucius Malfoy has gone missing a few months ago and is still missing, and the Wizengamot needs to decide what to do with the empty spot, as his son is still too young to take it," she explained.

"What about Narcissa Malfoy?" Harry asked in surprise. "Wouldn't she be the one to take over from him?"

"No, that would be his son and heir," McGonagall patiently explained, "however, since he's too young to be emancipated, especially since his father might still be alive, Draco can't follow him just now. His mother could take the seat for him, however, since he hasn't left any orders or will, it's for the Wizengamot to decide."

"Excuse me Professor," Harry asked in slight confusion, "do the Potters also have a seat on the Wizengamot?"

"Of course," McGonagall replied. "Professor Dumbledore is holding it for you, as he was your magical guardian after your parents died."

"What?" Harry asked, suddenly feeling very upset. "It should have been changed to Remus then years ago."

McGonagall shook her head. "I'm sorry, Harry, but that's a matter between Professor Dumbledore and him or the Wizengamot. I'm not in the possession of the complete information about the matter."

"Well, I'll speak about it with Amelia Bones," Harry resolved and decided to skip dinner in favour of a short visit to the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He quickly took his leave and, right in front of the door, transformed into his phoenix form and flashed into the living room of the founders' quarters, shouting, "Sirius!" as soon as he had changed back.

HP

"Harry, what's wrong?" Sirius asked in clear surprise, as he stepped out of his bedroom, where he was just getting ready for the Wizengamot meeting.

"Sirius, is it true that Dumbledore has my seat on the Wizengamot?" Harry asked, urgently.

"As far as I understood yes," Sirius replied, thoughtfully.

"Well, I'm going to ask Madam Bones to divert that to either you or Remus," Harry replied in determination. "You're my godfather, and Remus is my guardian, so both of you are more adequate to represent me than Dumbledore."

"Remus is better, as I'm on the Black seat anyway," Sirius suggested. "It would do him good to take up some positions after being hindered from everything due to his condition."

Harry inwardly groaned, thinking, _'Don't forget that I'm still a werewolf and no one can heal me.'_ "All right then, can you speak with Remus please? I'm going to talk to Bones," he said quickly, before he transformed back into his phoenix form and flashed away.

HP

After dinner, Harry asked Draco about what had happened to his father, only to learn from Draco that his father seemed to have been missing now for about six months.

"What happened to him?" Harry asked in confusion, wondering if Dobby had done anything else to him apart from obliviating him.

"I don't know what happened, but I want Mother to represent me in front of the Wizengamot, and I hope they're going to accept it, as I don't want anything to do with any of Father's Death Eater friends," Draco replied, matter-of-factly.

"I hope it'll work out for you," Harry replied, warmly, and promised that he would ask Sirius upon his return.

Sirius only returned to Hogwarts very late that evening, however, and told Harry, who was waiting for him in the living room, that Dumbledore had thrown a temper tantrum at Harry's request of having Remus or himself represent his seats on the Wizengamot.

"Seats?" Harry enquired in confusion.

"Yes, you have four seats," Sirius informed him. "The Potter seat, the one of the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw family, the one of the Slytherin-Hufflepuff family, and the one of the Gaunt family."

"Wow," Harry blurted out, feeling astonished to hear about this for the first time. _'It makes sense though,'_ he thought, _'even if I don't know who the Gaunts were.'_

"Harry, he was requested to prove by your parents' will that they wanted him as your guardian at all, and it came out that they had a will, but that it was locked on Dumbledore's order. We have to go to Gringotts at the first opportunity and have the goblins read it to us."

"What about the Wizengamot?" Harry asked, impatiently.

"Oh Remus is representing you now for the Potter and the Gaunt seats, and I for the founders' seats," Sirius informed his godson, grinning broadly.

"Ah, that's great," Harry breathed in relief. "What about Draco? Is his mother representing him now?"

"Yes," Sirius confirmed.

"All right then, good night Sirius," Harry said, somehow feeling contented with the newest information. "Please meet me at the headmaster's office after dinner tomorrow," he added as an afterthought, somehow sensing that the headmaster would not be happy with him tomorrow, especially after the earlier happenings at the Wizengamot.

HP

Just two minutes after entering the headmaster's office, Harry already regretted that he did as much as come to speak with the old wizard.

Dumbledore became very upset at the idea of having to work together with Sirius and asked McGonagall to leave the Transfiguration position to Sirius and remain his deputy. However, McGonagall refused and merely voiced that Sirius would surely be a good successor for the deputy position.

Further, the headmaster was against hiring any new staff, claiming that the more staff they had, the more difficult it would become to achieve agreements between everyone.

"Well Professor, as much as I value your experience, if you believe that you can't handle the staff, it's up to you to retire at any time," Harry replied and informed the adults that his next plan was to build a home for retired professors just behind the greenhouses.

"Do you wish for me to retire?" Dumbledore asked in a stern voice.

"No sir," Harry replied, firmly. "It was merely an offer."

In the end, Dumbledore accepted all the changes made by Harry and politely asked if Sirius would be willing to take the position as his deputy right from the beginning of the holidays onwards, so that they would have become used to working together by the upcoming school year.

"Of course headmaster," Sirius simply replied, causing Harry to inwardly sigh in relief.

' _Adults aren't much different from school children,'_ he thought in annoyance, when he returned to the founders' quarters together with Sirius.

HP

The next fight between Dumbledore and Harry began just a month later, when Harry by chance found out from Petunia and Severus, who had taken Harry and Dudley to the seaside for two days, that the headmaster together with the Ministry of Magic planned that a Triwizard Tournament was going to take place at Hogwarts during the next school year. Not enough that no one had bothered to ask Harry as the owner of the school, they even had decided to cancel the usual Quidditch tournament between the houses for that purpose.

"If you ensure the safety of the students and staff, I don't mind the tournament taking place, although I'd have liked to be informed on time. However, I cannot have all our students miss out on their Quidditch matches only because one of them is going to participate in the Triwizard Tournament. I insist that the four Quidditch teams may proceed as usual with their Quidditch practice and the matches for the Quidditch cup," Harry told the headmaster in a firm voice.

"Very well Harry, I'll inform the Ministry and ask that they change the third task, which was going to take place on the Quidditch pitch, accordingly," Dumbledore relented.

"Very well, Headmaster," Harry replied. "Please make sure that no younger students will be able to enter their names into the Goblet and that no one can enter another person's name," he then demanded. "I tell you know that if for some reason my name comes out of the Goblet, you're going to be in great trouble."

"Of course Harry, I'll see to it and take precautions," Dumbledore promised with the twinkle slowly returning to his eyes.

HP

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about that tournament," Harry voiced, when he told his friends about the matter as soon as they arrived back at Hogwarts for his birthday as usual.

"Why do you have a bad feeling?" Su enquired, causing Harry to shrug.

"I don't know. It's just a bad feeling. You know what happened with Professor Quirrell in our first year and the black book in the second," Harry replied, sighing.

"Everything will be all right, and we don't have to do much with the Tournament anyway," Dudley said, reassuringly.

"I hope so," Harry replied. "Thank Merlin we can continue playing Quidditch."

Only a few days later did Harry realise that a recurring dream, which he had been having since the beginning of the summer, had something to do with the Triwizard Tournament, himself and probably Voldemort, and this realisation did not help improve his thoughts about the Tournament.


	15. Chapter 15

**Soul Phoenix**  
 **by Healer Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. Rating M for multiple character deaths throughout this story.**

 _It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.  
_ _Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind feedback on the previous chapter!_

* * *

Alice Longbottom in her capacity as the new head of Gryffindor offered Harry to become captain of the Quidditch team, however, Harry declined due to having other responsibilities as the owner of the school and after a short discussion with the team decided on Dudley, who was also the team's Keeper.

"Thanks Harry," Dudley said, when they returned to the common room later on. "Being the captain is just cool."

Harry merely smiled, knowing that his cousin would do well in the position. The only Gryffindor student that seemed to be unhappy with the decision was Ronald Weasley, who was still trying to get onto the team - to no avail. Harry, Dudley, Neville and Lily were so good that their classmate did not have a chance.

HP

Afraid that something might happen due to the Triwizard Tournament, Harry contacted Amelia Bones and asked her if she could lend Hogwarts two Aurors to stay at the school and ensure everyone's safety during the Tournament. Like Madam Bones had so far always supported Harry, she immediately agreed and sent Dora Tonks to Hogwarts for the year together with the retired Auror Alastor Moody.

To Harry's chagrin, the evening, on which the other schools arrived, was the evening of the full moon, and he was not able to greet the guests in his capacity as the owner of Hogwarts, which he would have liked to do. Instead, he spent the evening in his phoenix form, sitting on one of the torches at the wall behind the Gryffindor table watching the guests arrive together with Animogli and Fawkes.

From his spot next to his phoenix friends, he could hear his friends at the Gryffindor table talk, as they had carefully chosen seats which were as close to him as possible. He rolled his eyes in annoyance upon noticing Ronald Weasley admire the beautiful female students and half Veelas from Beauxbatons. _'I hope Cedric will be chosen for Hogwarts,'_ he thought. Even if Cedric was the head of Hufflepuff since the beginning of the school year, he was still a student and would make a brilliant champion for Hogwarts, at least in Harry's opinion.

HP

On Halloween, everyone waited impatiently for the feast, during which the Goblet would announce the champions for the Triwizard Tournament. The Weasley twins did their best entertaining everyone, when they tried out multiple pranks to get around the age line that Dumbledore had arranged around the Goblet. Their expressions upon each of their failures was priceless, and everyone had much fun.

Harry felt extremely happy, when the Goblet chose indeed Cedric Diggory as Hogwarts' champion, and the whole school, except for very few exceptions like, for example at the Gryffindor table Ronald Weasley and Seamus Finnegan, cheered for the Hufflepuff. Even Draco, who was sitting between Harry and Neville at the Gryffindor table, had to admit that Cedric was the best choice of all Hogwarts students, who were known to have entered their names into the Goblet, even better than the seventh-year Slytherin.

After the Goblet had chosen Fleur Delacour for Beauxbatons and Victor Krum for Durmstrang, Harry readied himself to stand up and head to the ante chamber in order to greet the champions as the owner of Hogwarts, however, he stopped himself immediately upon hearing the Goblet spit out another parchment.

Hearing the headmaster call "Harry Potter," a bout of anger at the old wizard overcame him, which was even fuelled when he heard Ronald Weasley moan, "Oh Merlin, what else does Potter need? Doesn't he have enough money and fame already?"

Hearing the headmaster call his name again, Harry walked up to the high table, his usual friendly expression clouded by an angry frown.

"Headmaster, I told you there would be consequences if my name came out of this," he shouted. "I told you to ward the thing accordingly, and what have you done? Apparently nothing!"

"Harry, did you put your name into the Goblet?" Dumbledore enquired, completely ignoring Harry's outburst.

"Of course not," Harry said, icily. "I thought I'd made myself very clear that I do not wish to compete in this."

"I'm afraid that you have to," Dumbledore replied in a grave voice. "I'm sorry my boy."

 _'Oh you will be very sorry when I'm through with you,'_ Harry thought, angrily, knowing that he could not fire the headmaster in front of the guests. _'He won't be headmaster much longer after the tournament though,'_ he thought, as he grudgingly followed the professor to the ante chamber.

With slight relief did he realise that Severus followed him. "Harry," the Potions Master whispered to him, "don't worry. Go to see Poppy in the morning, and she'll attest that you're unable to compete for health reasons. Lycanthropy is enough of a reason."

"Thank Merlin, thanks Severus," Harry whispered back, feeling utterly relieved at the prospect of getting out of the dilemma.

HP

When he walked back to Gryffindor later on, he noticed a beetle sitting on his arm and impatiently waved it off, but did not further pay attention to it, so that he did not realise that the small insect flew behind him following him into the dormitory.

While Dudley and Neville seemed shocked and asked him how it could have happened, Ronald Weasley merely angrily hissed at Harry before retiring to his own bed.

"First thing in the morning, I'm going to see Aunt Poppy to get out of this," Harry informed his friends, who immediately offered to accompany him.

HP

While everyone else headed to the Great Hall for breakfast, Harry, Dudley and Neville strode to the hospital wing.

"Aunt Poppy, could you assert that I'm not able to participate in the Triwizard Tournament?" Harry asked right after greeting the kind healer.

"Of course I'll do that," Poppy reassured him and told him that Severus had already spoken with her about the matter. "Let me call the headmaster," she added and headed to the fireplace to call Dumbledore.

When the old wizard arrived, she handed him an attest, which she had prepared beforehand. It stated that Harry was unable to participate in the Triwizard Tournament because of health reasons.

"And why exactly might that be?" Dumbledore asked in apparent confusion.

"Because I have lycanthropy," Harry replied in absolute annoyance.

"Oh Merlin, that's right, I'm sorry, I completely forgot about that," Dumbledore stammered, looking at Harry in shock. Letting out a long sigh, he added, "I'm afraid that you'll have to name someone to participate on your behalf, my boy."

Harry shortly considered the matter, however, being absolutely certain that none of his friends except for maybe the twins had any ambitions to participate, and the twins could not participate together anyway, he made up his mind. "Ronald Weasley," he said in a firm voice.

"That's a good choice," Dudley commented, dryly, causing Neville to groan.

"Can you imagine how big his self estimation is going to become?" he asked, rolling his eyes in apparent annoyance.

"Yes, but he's the only one who wants to get the attention and participate, while everyone else is reasonable enough to think about possible consequences," Harry replied, looking up in surprise when Dudley reached over to him and wiped a beetle from his arm.

"Wait," Harry said, pensively, before he knelt down to the floor and gently picked up the beetle. "Give me a glass," he instructed his cousin who quickly transformed a tissue into a jam glass, which he held out to Harry to put in the beetle.

Firmly closing the lid, Harry said, "First of all, this beetle has been sitting on my arm since last night, and secondly, it has the aura of an Animagus. I wonder who it is."

"Ask Hermione to check the list with the registered Animagi," Dudley advised him, causing Harry to nod, contentedly.

"Show me," Neville demanded and quickly cast a Silencing charm at the glass.

After profusely thanking Poppy for her help, the three friends followed the headmaster into the Great Hall and headed to the Gryffindor table for a belated breakfast, inwardly grinning when Dumbledore called Ronald Weasley to the head table.

HP

Afterwards, Harry could not decide which was worse - having Ronald being jealous and complaining about him getting all the good things all the time or having him being so proud of himself for being a champion that he had to tell the whole school over and over again.

"Oh Merlin, he's so annoying," Lily groaned, when the friends arrived in the founders' living room.

"Why in the world did you choose the Weasel at all?" Draco asked in apparent confusion.

"He wants all of us to have some fun when Ronald makes a fool of himself," Luna Lovegood, who had recently become good friends with Draco and used to accompany him to the founders' quarters, spoke up.

"Yes, that's true," Harry admitted. "I think the age limit is there for a reason, and I don't think that either Ronald or I would have a chance of winning that thing. The only challenge is to make it out alive."

"But knowing Ronald, he's just going to bathe in his fame instead of practising whatever spells to be able to get through it," Hermione added.

"Yes, I think so too," Sue agreed, "but that's his problem, not ours."

"Exactly," Lily concurred. "We can just watch and laugh."

"That we will do," Harry promised. "Oh by the way, I need to go and ask Hogwarts if she knows who put my name into the Goblet.

Everyone followed him into the Parlour, and Harry asked the castle, who replied in grave voice. "I'm sorry, Harry, but I don't know that. I only saw the headmaster, the Aurors and some students around the Goblet, no one who did not belong here."

"All right Hogwarts, thank you so much," Harry replied in disappointment.

"I noticed something strange though," Hogwarts continued. "One of the Aurors, the old wizard, is taking Polyjuice potion and keeps the one whom he feigns to be in a suitcase in his office."

"What?" Harry blurted out, horrified. "Hogwarts, are you really sure?"

"Yes, I'm absolutely certain," the castle replied in a firm voice.

"All right, Hogwarts. Thank you so much for the information," Harry shouted and made a beeline out of the founders' quarters.

"Harry, where are we going? You can't just go there and take matters into your own hands. It's too dangerous?" Hermione asked, while his friends were running after him.

"I'm going to my own room in Remus' quarters. I left the Marauders' Map there," Harry replied, shortly.

HP

Five minutes later, the eight friends were standing in Harry's room staring at the Marauders' Map in disbelief. Two dots were displayed in what they were sure were Auror Moody's quarters, one was moving around and was labelled _'Barty Crouch Jr.'_ , and the other remained at one position and was named _'Alastor Moody'_.

"What should we do?" Harry asked. "He's surely dangerous and will have more experience with dark spells than us. Shall we ask Dumbledore or contact Madam Bones?"

"Ask Dobby or Gina to call Dora," Dudley advised him. "She'll know best what to do."

Everyone agreed, and Harry followed his cousin's advice. From his room, the friends observed on the Marauders' Map how Dora entered the old Auror's quarters together with a group of five more Aurors. Crouch suddenly vanished, _'probably by a Portkey'_ , while Dora took Moody to the hospital wing. A moment later, the remaining Aurors left the room and retreated from Hogwarts through the entrance hall.

"He probably was the one who put my name into the Goblet," Harry said quietly, making everyone look at him in shock.

"Thank Merlin that you got out of it and that Hogwarts alerted you to the problem," Lily replied in a soft voice.

HP

Due to the matter with the impersonated Auror, Harry completely forgot about the beetle, which was residing in a glass in his own bedroom in the founders' quarters and was cared for and fed by Dobby.

It was only two weeks later that Neville pointed to an article in the Daily Prophet that claimed that Rita Skeeter had been missing for about two weeks now and whispered, "The beetle must be Rita Skeeter."

"Oh then we got the right one," Dudley replied, grinning.

"She must have been the one who overheard us in the headmaster's office with Sirius and Pettigrew," Harry realised, feeling very angry towards the reporter turned beetle.

"You can't keep her prisoner here, Harry," Lily voiced, when the eight friends discussed the matter in the founders' quarters.

"If I just let her free, she'll write about me being a werewolf," Harry replied, sighing. "Maybe Dobby can obliviate her about it. Let me ask him."

"I think she deserves well being kept in a glass," Hermione spoke up. "It's her own fault for coming here as a beetle with nothing more than the intention of spying on Harry."

"Especially if Dobby cares for her," Su added, grinning.

"What if we ask Dobby to obliviate her of everything which she has heard at Hogwarts, and then, we stun her, change her back into her human form, and while she's still stunned, Harry could take the yellow Animagus part from her aura," Dudley suggested.

"Then she wouldn't be able to transform in her beetle form anymore," Luna agreed. "That's brilliant. Although..." she slowly trailed off.

"Although what?" Draco enquired, giving the girl a questioning look.

"If she was imprisoned longer, maybe it would be good for the Quibbler," Luna replied, wearing a dreamy expression.

"Sorry Luna, please explain that," Harry demanded and, after hearing Luna's explanation about the Quibbler's position against the Daily Prophet, decided, "We will use the Quibbler as sole source for the Triwizard Tournament. Luna, can you call your father over please? Then I'll go to speak with the headmaster together with him. Skeeter can wait for the time being. We'll deal with her later. Dudley's idea is good I think."

HP

In spite of being upset because he knew that the Minister would be enraged, Dumbledore was aware that he could not overwrite Harry's decisions. He informed Mr. Lovegood about all the appointments which he had already made with the Daily Prophet and would now have to cancel.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Headmaster," Harry spoke up. "I will make a contract with Mr. Lovegood that gives the Quibbler the exclusive rights for reports about matters at Hogwarts. If the Daily Prophet or any other newspaper or magazine wish to write about Hogwarts, they can buy the licence from Mr. Lovegood. In return, Mr. Lovegood will promise to write nothing but the truth and to allow either you, Sirius or me to read everything before it'll be published."

Lovegood nodded in confirmation.

"Harry, as much as I appreciate supporting the Quibbler," Dumbledore said in a grave voice, "we're going to get in trouble with the Ministry. Will the two of you please stay for my conversation with Minister Fudge?"

Harry and Mr. Lovegood exchanged a glance of pure annoyance, before they both gave the headmaster a grudging nod.

HP

"Dumbledore, this is not possible," the Minister raged after hearing the whole story. "The Ministry solely supports the Daily Prophet, and it's important…"

"I don't care," Harry interrupted the Minister in a firm voice. "Ms. Skeeter came to Hogwarts to spy on me in her beetle Animagus form, which is absolutely intolerable. Due to her, my personal secret of being able to read auras was told to every magical being in Britain, and just a couple of days ago, I caught her again spying on me. She is not allowed into Hogwarts anymore, and I will alert the castle to the fact, so that Hogwarts herself will deal with any attempt of her to intrude at Hogwarts."

"She is a beetle Animagus?" Fudge asked, incredulously.

"Yes, she is, although I'm very tempted to change her aura in a way that will disable her to transform into her beetle form anymore," Harry admitted.

"Do not make her a Squib," Fudge barked, causing Harry to chuckle.

"Don't worry sir, that was not my intention," Harry reassured the Minister. "I was merely going to take her Animagus ability, as it enables her to spy on people. Her form isn't even registered with the Ministry of Magic," he added as an afterthought.

"All right then," Fudge agreed. "I know nothing about it though."

"Thank you Cornelius," Dumbledore spoke up, seemingly contented with the turn the conversation was taking. "I've already relayed all the appointments with Miss Skeeter to Mr. Lovegood."

Shortly later, the conversation was finished, and Harry agreed with Mr. Lovegood on a meeting on Saturday morning to finalise the contract.

HP

During the following week, Lovegood came to Hogwarts twice, first to interview the champions, whereby he was most interested in Cedric as the Hogwarts champion, and secondly to report about the wand weighing ceremony.

Harry received every text before it was published, and he greatly appreciated that Lovegood kept to the truth. Ronald Weasley, however, was disappointed, because the Quibbler chose a photo, in which he was barely recognisable behind Fleur.

"Zat is because you're not a real champion," Fleur told him, when he complained to the other champions. "You're only a little boy."

"I'm not a little boy," Ronald replied, angrily, before he stormed off the Great Hall in a huff, causing Harry and his friends to laugh.

"Harry…"

"… thanks for the entertainment…"

"… by choosing our little brother…"

"… as champion," the twins told him in their funny sing-song.

"Please make sure that he at least practises a bit for the first task," Harry replied. "I spoke with Cedric, and he's practising a lot, although he should be very much ahead of Ronald."

"He told us that he'll deal with the task spontaneously…"

"… because it didn't make much sense to practise…"

"… if he doesn't know what it's going to be about," the twins replied, causing Harry and his friends to groan.

"Please try to convince him otherwise," Hermione spoke up in a firm voice.

"We'll try," the twins promised.

Nevertheless, Ronald continued to merely enjoy his newly found fame and knew better than to study spells and charms that might help him in an unknown situation.

HP

It was in the evening before the first task that Hogwarts alerted Harry to the fact that four dragons had been brought to the far end of the Hogwarts grounds.

"Four?" Harry asked in disbelief. "That must mean that the champions have to face dragons."

"Let's transform into our dog forms and take a look," Dudley suggested.

"Yes, let's do that," Harry agreed. "After curfew."

Two hours later, Harry flashed out onto the grounds with Dudley in tow. They transformed into their dog forms and carefully approached the far end of the Hogwarts grounds.

=Careful,= Dudley suddenly whispered. =There's Hagrid.=

Harry realised in anger that it was not only Hagrid though. He was together with Madame Maxime, the headmistress of Beauxbatons, and they were observing the dragons.

=They really seem to have to fight dragons, but at least Fleur will probably be forewarned,= he whispered back. =As will Victor Krum,= he added upon noticing the Durmstrang headmaster hiding behind a tree trunk.

=We must tell Cedric then,= Dudley replied, and the two Crups quickly made their way back to the safety of the castle.

=We should inform Ronald too,= Harry added, before they both transformed back and returned to their dormitory.

HP

First thing in the morning, Dudley informed Ronald, who did not seem very impressed and merely replied that he was experienced enough to act spontaneous to any threat that the first task might place on him.

"What an idiot," Harry groaned, when the two cousins made their way straight to the Hufflepuff common room.

As every other portrait used to do, the witch guarding the Hufflepuff common room allowed Harry and Dudley inside, and he quickly found Cedric, who was just helping a first-year girl with her homework.

"Cedric, sorry, we have to disturb you for a moment…"

"… The first task will be dragons…"

"… We saw them last night," the cousins informed the Hufflepuff head, who had become a good friend to them over the last couple of months.

"Really?" Cedric asked, sounding shocked.

"We thought we might forewarn you…"

"… and don't worry…"

"… We told Ronald as well…"

"… and Maxime and Karakoff were there and saw them too."

"Thank you so much for telling me," Cedric replied, gratefully.

"I suggest summoning your broom," Dudley offered, knowing that the Hufflepuff Seeker was a very good flyer.

HP

Just a few hours later, Harry and his friends headed outside to watch the first task, somehow having the feeling that the whole thing was going to end in a fiasco.

Cedric was the first who had to take an egg from a dragon mother that seemed incredibly large compared to the boy. Like Dudley had advised him earlier, Cedric chose to summon his broom and took into the air. However, while the dragon followed him, the boy did not have a chance to grab the egg and finally landed on the ground in resignation.

'Dobby,' Harry thought to his devoted elf, who immediately appeared in front of him, invisibly. 'Please take the egg and give it to Cedric as if he had summoned it,' he instructed the elf, who obeyed immediately.

Just a small hint of surprise on his face, Cedric took the egg that suddenly showed up right in front of him and held it up for everyone to see.

"Thank Merlin that went well," Harry sighed, making everyone sitting nearby to laugh in relief.

Fleur and Victor somehow managed to get their eggs by themselves, however, when Ronald showed up in front of his dragon, the disaster began.

HP

Ronald stood in front of the dragon, which seemed even larger and more aggressive than the three dragons of the other champions. He feverishly tried to cast every spell which he had learned during his so-far three Hogwarts years at the large animal – to no avail.

If his attempts had any consequence whatsoever, it was that the dragon became thoroughly annoyed by the boy and his foolish wand waving, and the dragon blast a huge wave of fire in his direction.

The spectators moaned in shock, when Ronald fell to the ground, seemingly unable to do anything due to having burns all over his body.

Harry jumped from his seat and was just about to attempt casting a stunning spell at the dragon, when Charlie Weasley and three other dragon tamers rushed over to keep the dragon away, while Pomfrey hurried over, levitated Ronald onto a stretcher and made him float towards the castle.

Needless to say that Ronald received zero points for his performance, and at dinner time, Dumbledore announced that he had been taken to St. Mungo's and that it was not clear if he would survive the ordeal.

"Oh no, and it's my fault," Harry groaned, causing his housemates to stare at him with bewilderment.

"Why would it be your fault?" Neville was the first to ask, incredulously.

"Because I named him champion on my behalf," Harry replied, shortly.

"Harry!" Hermione and Lily shouted, simultaneously.

"Your intention was good. It was his fault that he didn't practise like the others," Hermione then said in a firm voice. "Don't believe that any of this is your fault."

"Exactly," Su agreed, while Lily gently squeezed his hand under the table.

HP

It was only a week later that news reached the castle that Ronald was out of immediate danger. _'Thank Merlin,'_ Harry thought, as he placed the golden egg, which Dobby had retrieved for him, when Ronald was being carried off by Poppy, under Ronald's pillow. _'Maybe he learned something from this and will at least prepare for the second task,'_ he thought.

HP

A month before the beginning of the Christmas holidays, Dumbledore called Harry into his office. Wondering what the headmaster wanted, Harry grudgingly made his way to the headmaster's office, looking up in surprise upon realising that Sirius was present for the conversation.

"Harry my boy," Dumbledore greeted him and offered him a lemon drop, which was politely declined. "We just wished to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament is usually accompanied by a Yule Ball, which should be held on Christmas Day," he then came straight to the point.

"All right," Harry replied, not feeling overly impressed by the matter.

"Are you able to dance, Harry?" Sirius spoke up with apparent pleasure.

"No," Harry said, shocked. "Do we have to dance?"

"Err… Yes," Sirius informed him, grinning. "The four champions have to open the dance with their partners, but everyone else should at least have a partner and be able to dance as well. We don't want Hogwarts to be known as the school where students aren't able to dance now, do we?"

Casting a glare at his godfather, Harry turned back to the headmaster. "Excuse me sir, you're telling me this now exactly why?"

"To receive your approval," Dumbledore replied, gently.

"All right, I agree that it's a good event to accompany the Tournament," Harry said, much against his own feelings, while his mind screamed, ' _You need a date for that one.'_

Harry immediately informed his friends, and two minutes later, it was already confirmed that Hermione was going to accompany Dudley, Su would go with Neville, while Luna would be Draco's date and Lily Harry's.

'I'm going to the ball together with Lily,' Harry thought, feeling over the moon with joy at the idea.

"Where and when are we going to get dress robes?" Lily enquired and gave Harry a questioning look, causing a discussion about proper clothing on such occasions in the magical world.

"They'll surely give us another Hogsmeade visit before that," Harry finally said. "Let's ask Mrs. Longbottom."

Before they even had the opportunity to question their head of house, Dumbledore announced the Yule Ball to the student body and promised at the same time that the first weekend of the Christmas holidays would be a Hogsmeade weekend to give everyone the opportunity to by appropriate outfits for the event.

HP

Ronald returned to Hogwarts during the Hogsmeade weekend and was thoroughly pissed off to hear that as one of the champions he had to open the Yule Ball, which was going to take place five days later.

"How can I get a date five days prior to the ball?" he ranted in the dormitory, causing Neville and Dudley to roll their eyes.

"I don't know who doesn't have a date yet, but you could just ask in the common room," he suggested.

However, he should soon regret giving Ronald any advice at all, as the boy began to question all fourth-year girls in the common room if they had already a date, taken aback upon realising that they had all promised his dorm mates to accompany them.

"Can either of you take Ginny to the ball?" he asked Harry and Dudley later on, causing the cousins to exchange a horrified look.

"I'm sorry," Harry finally said. "We don't overly like Ginny, but Lily and Hermione belong to our best friends."

 _'_ _I wished I could just say she was my girlfriend,'_ he mused and, making a sudden decision, asked Lily out for a walk around the lake after dinner.

"Harry, you know that we don't have much time, because Luna is going to teach us to dance," Lily reminded him, giving him a questioning look.

"I know," Harry replied, impatiently. "I just want to ask you something." _'Oh Merlin, just how to ask?'_ he thought in excitement and finally asked, "Would you perhaps like to be my girlfriend?"

 _'_ _That was lame,'_ he immediately realised, when Lily gave him a surprised look. He feverishly searched his robe pocket for something that he had bought for Lily in Hogsmeade, when she said in a soft voice, "Harry look at me."


	16. Chapter 16

**Soul Phoenix**  
 **by Healer Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. Rating M for multiple character deaths throughout this story.**

 _It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.  
_ _Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind feedback on the previous chapter!_

* * *

"I'd love to be your girlfriend, Harry," Lily finally said, before she carefully pressed her lips against his mouth. "Thanks for asking," she added, as they departed.

"Thank YOU for agreeing," Harry replied, smiling, as he offered the friendship ring to her, which he had bought in Hogsmeade with the intention to ask her as soon as he had the opportunity. It was equipped with all kinds of safety charms, and he was in the possession of the equivalent.

"Let's go, I can't wait to tell the others," Lily shouted, happily, after a few minutes of sitting on a bench kissing and cuddling.

"All right," Harry replied, feeling extremely happy, when they joined hands and walked back towards the castle.

However, shortly before reaching the entrance doors, they noticed Fleur Delacour heading towards the lake, and she seemed to be crying.

"Lily, would you mind me going to see what's wrong with her?" Harry asked in a soft voice that made Lily smile.

"Of course not, dear. Maybe you can help her. In the meantime, I'll go and tell our friends the good news," she replied, holding up her left hand for him to see her ring.

HP

While Lily hurried inside with apparent enthusiasm, Harry quickly made his way back towards the lake to speak with Fleur.

"Fleur," he addressed the older girl in a soft voice. "What happened?"

Fleur slowly turned her head to give Harry a teary-eyed look. Ever since the champions had been selected, Harry had sometimes spoken with her and Victor due to being good friends with Cedric.

"Harry," she moaned, miserably. "You know zat I'm a quarter Veela, don't you?"

"I know," Harry replied in a soothing voice, thinking that everyone had to be aware of that.

"For ze second task, I have to swim in ze lake for an hour to get somezing zat zey took from me, but a Veela is a fire person not a water person, and I can't do zat. Plus, I am afraid of ze mer people," she explained, sobbing. "What if zey take my little sister, Gabrielle?"

"Oh Merlin," Harry replied in understanding. "They should have considered as much." He remained pensive for a moment, before he promised, "I'll think about something. We still have six weeks, and until then I'll come up with a plan. I'll contact you, as soon as I have an idea."

"Thank you Harry," Fleur replied and leaned over to kiss his cheek, seemingly consoled.

HP

"Well, there are two possibilities," Su spoke up when Harry discussed Fleur's problem with his friends. "Either you can try to convince the organisers to change the second task to something else, or you have to find a spell or charm that enables Fleur to swim for an hour."

"Harry, are you able to brew Polyjuice potion?" Luna enquired, causing Harry to gape at the girl in surprise.

"That's it, Luna," he blurted out. "Polyjuice potion takes a month to brew, but I still have six weeks."

"Excuse me," Dudley spoke up in apparent confusion.

"Polyjuice potion is what the fake Moody used to look like him," Harry explained. "I need to add one hair from Fleur to the potion, and then I can take the potion to look like her and do the task for her," he added, grinning. "That'll work. I'll just have to be quick with the task, as the potion will wear off after an hour."

"But where can you brew it without having Professor Snape notice?" Lily enquired.

"He can use one of the bathrooms here in these quarters," Hermione suggested, causing Salazar to react from the founders' portrait.

"You don't brew potions in bathrooms, young lady," he growled. "Harry, have you never noticed the secret door in Helga's and my bathroom? You've been using it for a while now."

"Err… yes, but… no," Harry replied in confusion, making the Potions Master roll his eyes. "It opens on open in Parseltongue," he added, causing Harry to jump from his seat and ran into the bathroom that was adjacent to his own room.

Harry stopped dead in his tracks. Only now that he knew what he was looking for, he noticed the faint trace of a doorframe on the left hand side of the sinks.

"Open," he hissed at the door, which obediently opened, revealing the most brilliant potions lab that Harry could have imagined. It was a bright room with sunshine streaming in through the charmed ceiling. There were four workstations in the middle, while one short wall was equipped with cauldrons of all possible sizes and an assortment of material, the opposite wall held and four sinks, one of the larger walls was covered with shelves with empty phials of various sizes, and the last wall turned out to provide potions ingredients of any imaginable kind.

"The ingredients shelves are equipped with self refilling and preservation charms," Salazar informed him from the portrait in the bedroom.

"This is absolutely amazing," Harry replied, as he and his friends stared around their new discovery in awe. "Thank you so much for telling us about it."

"Well, it was about time," the founder replied, smirking. "I don't mind if you bring Severus here to work together if you wish. After finishing your Polyjuice potion of course."

"Thank you so much sir," Harry said, gratefully.

"Where does this door lead?" Hermione suddenly asked, pointing to a small doorframe

on the right side of the sinks.

Harry turned around only now noticing a small doorframe. "Open," he hissed at the door that immediately gave in, allowing him to enter a smaller room, which was equally bright as the lab and had all four walls covered with shelves. Phials filled with various liquids were crammed in the shelves, and he felt a coolness coming from the shelves, which he had already noticed with the ingredients shelves. _'Probably the same preservation charm,'_ he realised, absentmindedly noticing that Hermione and Lily set to closely inspecting the labels of the phials.

"We need to study the writing of the founders' time," Hermione spoke up after a moment.

"Yes, there might be really useful potions here, which are lost in our time," Lily agreed.

With that new study project in mind, the friends eagerly left Salazar's most private rooms, leaving the doors ajar in case the girls wanted to check something without having Harry with them, and headed to a children room, where they had seen reading instructions before.

Seeing where his friends were going, Harry excused himself. "I'm going to try finding an escort for the ball for Ronald, and then I try to find Fleur and tell her about the Polyjuice potion," he explained. "Please tell me later if you found out anything interesting."

To his relief, everyone agreed, and Harry quickly called Gina and Dobby. "Please ask the four heads of the houses to come to our usual meeting room in one hour. It will only take five minutes, but I must ask them something," he explained, before he left the room to go and look for Fleur to inform her about his idea and receive her consent.

HP

Half an hour and a conversation with a happy but teary-eyed quarter Veela later, he returned to the founders' quarters. Since the beginning of the school year, Harry had been holding monthly meetings with the four heads of the houses in one of the smaller rooms of the founders' quarters, so that Alice, Rose, Penelope and Cedric immediately knew where he was waiting for them.

"I'm sorry for calling you here on such a short notice," he apologized, just when he heard Hermione shout, "Harry!"

It sounded fairly urgent, and Harry rolled his eyes in annoyance when Lily echoed the call.

"What I wanted to ask you," he nevertheless turned to the members of his meeting, "is if you know someone from your house who would be willing to accompany Ronald Weasley to the Ball. Please think about it for a moment, while I go and see what seems to be so urgent."

HP

"I know someone," Rose spoke up quickly. "My cousin Astoria, whilst only being a second-year, would really love to attend the ball."

"Very well then, Alice, would you please tell Ronald that we have arranged for someone," Harry asked. "Maybe better not tell him who it is. Rose, will you please inform Astoria then."

Everyone agreed, and Harry thanked them all, before he rushed over to his friends to enquire why they were shouting for him.

HP

"Harry," Hermione was the first to speak up, when he joined his friends in Salazar's potions room." Salazar has a cure for lycanthropy."

Harry stared at his friend with a combination of disbelief and shock, before he let out a confused, "What?"

"Here Harry," Lily said, pointing to a small phial in Hermione's hand. "It's labelled _'Wolvescure'_ , and Salazar confirmed that it's a cure for lycanthropy and only has to be taken once to cure a werewolf."

"He said he never published his recipes, so that's why it was lost," Dudley added.

Harry shook his head and walked over into the bedroom. "Salazar, if this is really a cure for lycanthropy, how come that Ceridwen doesn't know about it? She was a healer in your time, wasn't she?"

"Of course Ceridwen knew about it. She cured lots of people with this potion," Salazar replied, grumpily. "Maybe her portrait was charmed too early for her to have this knowledge though," he then added, pensively.

"I think that must be the problem," Helga concurred. "I'm sorry Harry, we didn't realise that you were a werewolf. We only knew that you're able to cure people from lycanthropy."

Harry profusely thanked the founders and his friends, before he gulped down the potion, knowing that the full moon was only five days away, so that he would be able to confirm that it had worked fairly soon. _'I'll spend the night in the locked dungeon room in any case,'_ he decided.

HP

After dinner that evening, which took especially long since it was Christmas Eve and the Great Hall almost burst from all the excitement about the Yule Ball that was going to take place the following evening, Harry showed Severus Salazar's lab.

As expected, the Potions Master was extremely enthusiastic, especially after hearing about the wolvescure potion.

"Congratulations Harry," he said, smiling. "As soon as we have time, we should come here and test the lab."

"And when might that be?" Harry enquired, feeling very nervous about the topic, knowing that he should begin brewing the Polyjuice potion as soon as possible.

"Not before you've taken your Potions NEWT this summer," Severus replied in a firm voice, causing Harry to inwardly relax.

HP

After Christmas breakfast the following morning, Harry set up a cauldron in Salazar's private lab and using Lily and Hermione as assistants began to brew the Polyjuice potion up to a point where the yellowish liquid had to simmer for fifteen hours. _'Thank Merlin we don't have classes at the moment,'_ Harry thought. _'Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to continue after exactly fifteen hours.'_

While the girls spent the whole afternoon to get ready for the ball, Harry and the Weasley twins enjoyed a few hours in Harry's newly found lab brewing prank potions from a book which Harry had received from Sirius for Christmas: _'The Most Amazing Prank Potions – Huge Effects with Little Effort'_.

HP

Hours later, Harry and his friends were impatiently standing in the entrance hall waiting for their girlfriends – to which they had made their best female friends on Christmas Eve following Harry's example – to appear. None of them had seen the girls let alone their outfits for the evening yet, and they were very excited, just like everyone else who was standing in the crowd waiting.

One of the earliest girls to join the boys was Astoria Greengrass. She was dressed in light green dress robes matching those of her older sister Daphne, who was going to the Ball together with Blaise Zabini.

"You look beautiful," Harry commended the younger girl, who seemed to be not only very happy but also extremely excited.

"Thank you Harry," Alstoria replied, giving him a broad smile. "Where is Ronald?"

Harry searched the crowd, however, even if the whole male Hogwarts population from forth year onwards as well as the male guests seemed to be present in the entrance hall, Ronald Weasley was missing.

After just a moment, Ginny came rushing downstairs, shouting for her twin brothers. "Fred, George, you have to help me. Ron is throwing a fit because of the dress robes that Mum sent him."

Harry inwardly rolled his eyes, when the twins hurried upstairs behind their sister.

"Just wait a moment," he said to Astoria. "He's going to show up in any case."

Noticing that Dudley and Neville were staring at the grand staircase with open mouths, Harry turned around only to hold his breath in amazement. The girls were just beautiful. Lily, Hermione, Su and Luna were all wearing the same kind of dress robes, however, in slightly different shades of blue and with varying accessories.

"You're most beautiful," Harry told Lily, as he carefully leaned over to pull her into a kiss.

"Thank you Harry, you too," the girl replied, smiling at her boyfriend.

 _'_ _Thank Merlin I decided on the blue dress robes instead of the green ones. They wouldn't have matched hers,_ ' Harry thought, when they were waiting to be let into the Great Hall.

Finally, Sirius opened the door to the Great Hall and invited the champions to come in, nodding contentedly when Cedric, Fleur and Victor followed the invitation together with their partners.

"Where's Mr. Weasley?" he then asked and was informed that the Gryffindor had yet to come downstairs.

"He better hurry up if he doesn't want me to take points from my own house," Alice Longbottom said in a stern voice, as she hurried upstairs to fetch the missing champion.

Five minutes later, she returned with the twins and their protesting brother in tow and introduced Ronald to Astoria Greengrass, whose face displayed an obvious smirk upon seeing his pinkish dress robes. Nevertheless, the girl greeted him with a smile.

"What? I'm a champion, and I have to attend the Ball with a slimy first-year Slytherin? This is ridiculous!" Ronald blurted out in apparent anger.

"Ronald!" Ginny, who had slowly followed her brothers, shouted, making everyone stare at her in surprise. "You will immediately apologize to Astoria and take her to the Ball. You're a disgrace for our family."

"My sister is a second-year by the way," Daphne spoke up, "but she has at least better manners than you."

Shaking his head in annoyance, Harry observed how Ronald together with Astoria joined the other champions in the Great Hall, and now that the champions were gathered, everyone else was finally allowed to enter as well.

 _'_ _This is so cool,'_ Harry thought, as he thoroughly enjoying himself dancing – mostly with Lily, but the friends took turns dancing with each of the other three girls as well.

Later in the evening, the eight friends retreated to the grounds, where they split into couples again and enjoyed a romantic evening walking around the lake.

"This was the best part of the whole tournament," Harry stated, when they all met for breakfast in the Great Hall.

"Yes, it was amazing," Luna immediately agreed, eyeing Draco, who was sitting between her and Harry at the Gryffindor table, with a dreamy look.

HP

Exactly four weeks later, the Polyjuice potion was ready and bottled into small phials, and Harry eagerly researched how to be able to breathe underwater for an hour.

"Gillyweed," Salazar informed him, pointing out that it was one of the ingredients in his private lab.

After a short discussion with the founder about the amount of gillyweed needed for an hour, Harry took an adequate amount from the self-refilling stock and asked Dobby to hand it to Ronald Weasley and inform him what he would have to do in the second task without mentioning who was sending him. _'I hope Ronald doesn't know that Dobby is my elf, but he probably won't. Thank Merlin Dobby is very careful and only allows my friends to see him,'_ he thought in relief.

"What about the other champions?" Hermione enquired, causing Harry to cast her a thoughtful look.

"Yes, maybe we should give some to Cedric as well, considering that he's our own champion," he finally agreed, grinning, before he sent Gina to the head of Hufflepuff with the needed amount of gillyweed.

HP

The morning of the second task was cold but sonny. As soon as Harry saw from the window in his own room in the founders' quarters that the champions were gathered in front of the lake, he gulped down the Polyjuice potion, turned himself invisible and popped outside, so that he came to stand right next to Fleur.

When Dobby saw him arriving, he popped Fleur to the living room of the founders, where Hermione and Dudley had agreed to keep her company and together watch everything from one of the windows in the bedrooms, which were not charmed but real windows allowing the view onto the grounds. At the same time, Harry instantly made himself visible in his disguise as Fleur, and Ludus Bagman gave the signal for the champions to start.

Knowing that he did not have time to lose, as the Polyjuice potion would wear off even before the time for the task was up, Harry forced the gillyweed into his mouth, jumped into the water and began to swim. To his relief, he did not meet any obstacles and after a short while of swimming, he reached the four hostages. Gabrielle, Fleur's younger sister, was easy to spot due to her resemblance to her older sister. Harry quickly freed her and swam back with the young quarter Veela, reaching the shore before any of the other champions.

Leaving Gabrielle with her mother, who pulled her younger daughter into a bear's hug, Harry readied himself to pop away, when he heard Dobby's voice in his mind that told him that he could leave. He immediately turned himself invisible, when the real Fleur appeared out of nothing next to her family.

 _'_ _Thank Merlin Dobby remembered to cast a wetting spell at Fleur before he popped her here,'_ he thought, feeling very grateful to the devoted elf, as he popped back into his own room in the founders' quarters to dry himself and return to the grounds feigning to be a spectator.

Cedric was the next to return to the shore, shortly followed by Victor Krum and Ronald Weasley, who both arrived just after the one hour time limit was up. While Victor had at least brought the third-year Hufflepuff girl with him who had accompanied him to the Yule Ball, Ronald came back alone without having freed his sister, whom Harry had seen among the hostages.

 _'_ _What did he do now?'_ he inwardly groaned in annoyance, when he realised that Dumbledore was standing at the edge of the lake speaking with a couple of merpeople. Shortly afterwards, a mereman brought Ginny Weasley to the shore, where she woke up and was led away by Madam Pomfrey.

 _'_ _Oh Merlin, Ronald is really stupid,'_ Harry thought in disbelief, recalling that the task had not been difficult at all, especially with a sufficient amount of gillyweed available.

Back in the common room, however, Ronald told everyone who wanted or did not want to hear that the task had been incredibly difficult, and that he had been attacked by grindylows, merpeople and whatever other creatures were residing in the lake.

Harry knew better than to utter a word about how easy the whole task had been and merely shook his head in annoyance, before he left for the founders' quarters together with his friends.

HP

If Harry found that Ronald had so-far absolutely failed the tournament, he instinctively had a bad feeling about the third task, even if he was unable to comprehend let alone explain his fears. At the same time, he realised that his visions became clearer and somehow still involved him, even if he was not a Triwizard champion like Voldemort and his followers, who were caring for the strange creature in his visions, had indented him to be.

HP

In the afternoon of the third task, Harry took a seat in the spectator seats together with his friends to watch what could not be observed – the task which took place behind a huge wall of trees.

"This is really annoying. Why are we even sitting here?" Dudley whispered, causing each of his friends agree.

"Where's Draco?" Harry asked Luna. No one had seen their Slytherin friend since lunchtime, when they had all eaten together at the Gryffindor table.

"When we came out onto the grounds, one of the seventh year prefects told him to come with him, as one of his father's friends wanted to see him," Luna replied in a soft voice.

"His father's friends?" Harry asked in surprise. "I thought Draco wanted nothing to do with them."

"Yes, but he had to speak with him to know what he wanted," Luna explained, wearing a dreamy expression. "They still don't know what happened to his father."

Half an hour into the task, Draco approached them and took the empty seat between Harry and Luna. "Sorry, one of my father's friends came to see me," he explained, before he tossed a chocolate frog into Harry's hand.

 _'_ _A chocolate frog?'_ Harry wondered in surprise, when he heard shouts and screams coming from behind the wall of trees that stopped abruptly. _'Was that Ronald?'_ he thought in concern, just when he felt a strange pull behind his navel and was whisked away.

HP

The screaming from the champions still resounding in his ears, Harry arrived in what seemed to be a cemetery. A man, whom he had never seen before, was leaning over a large cauldron, which was placed right in front of an open grave. At the foot of the grave, a small bundle was lying, wrapped in black robes, causing Harry to wonder what it was.

He stepped a few steps ahead to be able to decipher what was written on the stone behind the grave, only to inwardly gasp in shock upon reading, _'Tom Riddle'_.

Unfortunately, the man realised that he was moving around and quickly bound Harry to the stone next to him, ensuring the spell with a couple of ropes.

 _'Voldemort,'_ Harry thought, horrified. _'It must be his father's grave.'_ He concentrated on the aura of the small bundle, realising that it was completely black with a green frame. _'Let's change that,'_ he resolved and pushing as much magic as he dared into the wish changed the green frame to pink, inwardly sighing in relief at his success.

The unknown man, who had to be a Death Eater, began to slowly pull the robes off the bundle that seemed to become more and more restless as if it was impatient. In front of Harry's eyes, the man unwrapped a strange little creature that looked like a baby, however, a strange one. He placed the creature into the cauldron, before he began so speak.

"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son."

Dust rose into the air on the man's command, and the man let it fall into the cauldron, before he continued with the ceremony. "Flesh of the servant willingly given, you will revive your master," he then said, before he cut his hand off using a dagger.

Quickly thinking, Harry wished the consistence of the hand to change into pig's meat, just before it was added into the cauldron.

Finally, the man said, "Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe," and stepped over to where he had bound Harry to the stone.

 _'Forcibly taken,'_ Harry thought. _'Let's see if I can mess with that too.'_ Before he could think of a plan though, the man approached him, and brought the dagger down onto his left arm.

Holding his arm in agony, Harry observed in horror how Voldemort was re-born and climbed out of the cauldron. The other man banished the ropes and tossed his wand to him, however, instead of using his new freedom to flee, Harry walked a little in the direction of Voldemort in order to confirm that his aura was still black with a pink frame, before he hurriedly transformed into his phoenix form and flashed away.

HP

By the time he arrived next to the spectator stands, he realised, horrified, that the whole school was in uproar and the grounds were swamped with Aurors.

"Harry, thank Merlin that you're safe." Amelia Bones was the first to notice him and pulled him into a fierce hug.

"Voldemort is back," Harry announced, still disturbed by the commotion going on around them. "He was resurrected in a cemetery in front of his father's grave."

"Are you all right Harry?" Bones asked in apparent shock, only then noticing that he was bleeding from his arm. "Harry, please go to the hospital wing and let Madam Pomfrey check on you," she instructed him.

"Where are my friends?" Harry asked in confusion, noticing that the spectator seats were completely empty. "Is the third task over already?"

"Yes, it is," the older witch told him in a grave voice. "Harry, if Madam Pomfrey releases you, please come to the headmaster's office right away," she added as an afterthought.

 _'_ _Something is strange,'_ Harry thought and, while he obediently stepped through the entrance doors, instead of heading to the hospital wing, he made his way into the Great Hall to see his friends.

"Harry, thank Merlin you're back," Lily blurted out, pulling him into a bear's hug.

"What happened?"

"Where have you been?"

"Did you hear what happened?"

"Wait a moment," Harry replied, when all of his friends asked questions at the same time.

"Come Harry, I'm going to take you to the hospital wing," Lily decided upon noticing the wound on his arm and led Harry out of the Great Hall before he could do as much as protest.

"What happened?" she asked, sternly, causing Harry to tell her everything about the cemetery.

"Harry, something happened here too," she then revealed, just when they reached the hospital wing.

"What happened?" Harry asked, urgently, as he sat on the bed to which Poppy pointed, noticing that one part of the hospital wing was separated from the rest by multiple separators. He could hear muffled voices and sobs from within the area.

"You can as well make yourself comfortable," Poppy advised him, causing Harry to shake his head.

"No Aunt Poppy, I can't stay here, I need to go to the headmaster's office, as soon as you've healed my arm," he replied in a stern voice. "Voldemort is back," he added as an explanation.

"May I come with you?" Lily asked, urgently. "I want to know what happened. We only heard that the champions fought each other in the graveyard, and that they're badly hurt or worse. No one tells us what really happened."

"What?" Harry blurted out in horror. "Is that why so many Aurors were roaming the grounds?"

"Yes Harry, but please hold still for a moment now," Poppy instructed him, before she waved her wand over his arm a couple of times. "There," she then said, giving him a concerned look. "Harry, are you all right otherwise?"

"Yes Aunt Poppy, thank you so much for healing me," Harry replied, impatiently.

"If you wish to talk about what happened, you can come to see me at any time," the healer offered, giving Lily a no-nonsense look.

"I'll look after him," Lily promised, before she ran behind Harry, who had already reached the doors.

HP

When they arrived in the headmaster's office, Dumbledore greeted them sternly, his eyes void of their usual twinkle. He did not even remember to offer them lemon drops.

"Headmaster, what happened here at Hogwarts?" Harry asked, impatiently.

"Harry," the old wizard replied, gently, "I promise that I shall you inform immediately after you tell us what happened to you, so that Madam Bones and the Aurors can return to the Ministry."

Harry quickly told the adults how a chocolate frog had turned out to be a Portkey taking him to a cemetery, where Voldemort had been resurrected.

The Aurors had many questions and successively interrogated Draco, who could not remember anything from the point onwards that the seventh year had told him to meet with Mr. Nott.

"Draco, I fully trust you," Harry assured the other boy, who seemed terrified at what he had caused.

"I suppose that Mr. Nott put you under the Imperius curse and then obliviated you," Dora told him in a soothing voice. "Don't worry though, we'll find out."

After a seemingly infinite time, Amelia Bones and the Aurors apart from Dora and Moody finally left through the fireplace, and Dumbledore once again turned to Harry with a grave expression.

"The third task ended with three students wounded, two of them with life threatening injuries," he informed Harry and Lily, just when a man, whom Harry knew to be Amos Diggory, stepped out of the fireplace, closely followed by his wife.


	17. Chapter 17

**Soul Phoenix**  
 **by Healer Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. Rating M for multiple character deaths throughout this story.**

 _It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.  
_ _Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind feedback on the previous chapter!_

* * *

Dumbledore motioned for the parents to take seats and introduced Harry and Lily, before he began to explain. "During the third task, there was a fight. As far as Mr. Diggory told us, while they were making their way through the maze fighting obstacles, Ronald suddenly attacked Victor Krum with what he believes was a cutting spell. From there a duel developed that extended to Cedric, when he tried to interfere. In the end, Mr. Krum sent an almost fatal spell at Ronald, before he blacked out from his injuries. They are both badly injured and are going to be sent to St. Mungo's shortly, or maybe they have already been sent while we were talking. Cedric was wounded, however, Madam Pomfrey has already been able to heal his injuries, and she expects him to be up and about by dinner time tomorrow."

"May we see him?" Mrs. Diggory demanded.

"Of course," Dumbledore confirmed and rose from his chair.

"Professor, I'll take the Diggorys to the hospital wing. I want to see Cedric as well," Harry said, quickly, and the adults agreed.

"Cedric is one of our good friends," he explained to the boy's parents on their way to the hospital wing.

"We had really hoped that he'd win the Tournament," Lily added.

"Well, the most important thing is that he's all right and that everyone survived that bloody Tournament," Mr. Diggory spoke up.

"It was the last Triwizard Tournament being held at Hogwarts, that's for sure," Harry declared in a firm voice.

HP

Even if the following day was a Hogsmeade day, students and teachers were not really in the mood of celebrating the end of the tournament, considering that two of the champions were at St. Mungo's badly injured. Many students were upset at Ronald stating that it had been his fault having started a fight with the other champions instead of just doing his task, and Harry silently agreed.

Fleur was the winner of the tournament, however, she was not overly happy with her victory. "I'm just glad zat I came out alive and zat Gabrielle was un'armed due to your 'elp," she told Harry, when they both visited Cedric in the hospital wing.

"Your help?" Cedric asked in surprise.

"Ah, it's nothing," Harry replied, shaking his head to play down the matter.

"What's going to 'appen to Weasley now?" Fleur enquired. "Will 'e be expelled for attacking ozer champions?"

Harry let out a long sigh. "I'd expel him, but the headmaster surely won't, because he's good friends with the Weasleys. I'll speak with him. In fact, I think since it concerns the Tournament, it should rather be a decision of Hogwarts and the student body than of the headmaster."

"Harry, wait until I'm out of here and I'll fully support you," Cedric agreed, smiling. "You can overwrite the headmaster's decisions anyway."

HP

Harry was relieved when Cedric was indeed released on time for dinner and when the news reached Hogwarts that both Ronald Weasley and Victor Krum were out of danger, even if it was not clear yet if there would be permanent after effects from their injuries.

It was in the morning after the Hogsmeade day that Harry received a red letter at breakfast.

"A Howler," Neville stated in clear surprise. "You better open it quickly, otherwise it'll only become worse."

An instant later, Harry and with him everyone assembled in the Great Hall heard Molly Weasley shout at him.

"Harry Potter!  
How dare you put my son into the Triwizard Tournament! It is your fault that he's at St. Mungo's now and might never be able to walk again. You should take consequences from this accident and leave the school before you put other children to harm! If he won't be able to lead a normal life in the future, we are going to take you to court and force you to take responsibility."

"What?" Harry blurted out in surprise once the voice faded and the red colour vanished from the letter.

Huge tumult broke out not only at the Gryffindor table, while Ginny and the twins simultaneously attempted to apologize to Harry.

"Why do you have to apologize?" Harry asked in surprise. "Your mother and Ronald have to apologize, not you."

After a few minutes of pondering the matter, Harry rose from his chair and stepped in front of the head table to address the students.

"Everyone, please listen for a moment," he called out. "Tonight right before dinner, I will ask all of you for your opinion about what to do with Ronald Weasley. I will give you three options, and I ask you to consider the matter and give me your response tonight. First option would be to expel him, second to suspend him for a year, and third to merely give him detention until the end of his seventh year. Thank you all and until tonight."

With that he intended to return to the Gryffindor table, however, Dumbledore called him back. "Harry, you can't simply expel Ronald. His…"

"Sorry Headmaster, but I can and I will if the students decide for that option," Harry interrupted the headmaster in a firm voice.

With that Harry retired to the office in the founders' quarters and wrote a letter.

 _'_ _Dear Mr. Weasley,  
I am writing to you as the Head of the Weasley family. Please educate your wife to act with proper respect within the magical world. It is neither my fault that Ronald willingly accepted to participate in the Triwizard Tournament nor that he was stupid enough to start a fight with the other champions during the task. Moreover, I am the owner of Hogwarts and won't have parents of students send me Howlers speaking with me in a way like your wife did. Tonight, all Hogwarts students will democratically elect if Ronald will be expelled, suspended for a year or merely be given detention. I shall inform you accordingly.  
Best regards  
Harry Potter  
Owner of Hogwarts'_

"Brilliant," Lily approved when Harry read the letter to his friends, and everyone agreed.

"I'll ask Animogli to deliver it," Harry decided and entrusted the phoenix with the letter, who flashed right into Mr. Weasley's office at the Ministry of Magic.

HP

At lunchtime, Harry was called to the head table. "Harry, are you really going to expel Ronald?" Dumbledore asked in apparent concern.

"No sir," Harry replied, feeling thoroughly annoyed. "I'm going to do what the students decide."

"And if they want him expelled?" McGonagall spoke up, giving Harry a stern look.

"Then it will happen," Harry said, matter-of-factly.

"Harry, please think about it," Dumbledore cautioned. "What other school would accept him after what happened?"

"Sorry Headmaster, but that is something that he should have considered before attacking Cedric and Victor," Harry replied in a firm voice.

"We will not accept 'im at Beauxbatons," Madame Maxime spoke up. "We were lucky zat our student was not nearby or she would 'ave been 'urt as well."

"We want nothing to do with that jerk either," Professor Karakov added, sternly, causing Harry to shrug. _'Of course not,'_ he thought, as he returned to the Gryffindor table to discuss the matter with his friends.

HP

With the exception of a hand full of Gryffindor students including Ronald's siblings and Seamus Finnegan, the whole student body decided to have Ronald Weasley expelled because of his aggression during the third task of the Triwizard tournament.

"I shall inform Mr. Weasley," Harry promised the headmaster, before he went to join his friends at the house table, feeling strangely relieved. On the one hand, he did not want to expel a student, however, he was glad that the decision had been made by all students and had been so unanimous.

"Harry…"

"Thanks for not holding grudges against us…"

"…because of Ronald," the twins addressed Harry, who returned a sad smile.

"Of course not. Even if he's your brother, you behave completely differently. I don't have a problem with any other Weasley." _'At least not here at Hogwarts,'_ he added to himself, thinking of Mrs. Weasley.

Right after dinner, Harry wrote another letter to Mr. Weasley informing him that his son had been expelled from Hogwarts, that he, however, had decided to not further prosecute the boy for disturbing an important event and attacking fellow champions, even if the Aurors had confirmed that he had neither been under the influence of the Imperius curse and had merely been driven by his jealousy.

The response arrived in the morning. In his letter, Mr. Weasley apologized for his son's and his wife's behaviour and told Harry that he could understand that he had to expel Ronald. At the same time, he thanked him for not letting his other children suffer due to Ron's and his mother's ill behaviour.

 _'_ _Why would I?'_ Harry wondered, shaking his head in confusion.

A few days before the end of the school year, Harry took his Potions NEWT, however, Severus had prepared him well, and Harry did not encounter any problems.

He sighed in relief, when the school year was over and not only the guests from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang but also the Hogwarts students went home for the summer.

HP

However, the peace and quiet should not last long.

First of all, Amelia Bones contacted Harry just a week into the school year and told him that the Minister of Magic did not believe that Voldemort was back and had informed the magical world accordingly in the Daily Prophet.

"Since you and I and the Hogwarts professors are the only ones to believe it, there's nothing that we can do about it right now," she told him. "We can only wait for him to come out of his hiding spot."

Just a week later, Dumbledore informed Harry that Minister Fudge wanted to send a professor to Hogwarts to teach the new subject of Magical Education.

Noticing Harry's surprised look, the headmaster hurried to explain that he'd ask Harry to for once accept the Minister's wishes, as it was important for the school to maintain a good connection to the Ministry of Magic.

"All right, let's try this out until Christmas," Harry agreed against his personal opinion.

"That's all I can ask for my boy," Dumbledore replied, seemingly contented.

HP

While Harry was busy studying for his Potions Mastery under Severus' watchful eyes, he completely forgot about the matter – until the professor moved to Hogwarts on the last day of the holidays. Harry inwardly groaned upon realising that it was no one else but Dolores Umbridge, the witch in the pink cardigan, who had already twice tried to cause him trouble at the Ministry.

"Even Madam Bones told me that she was a bitch," he said to his friends, who as usual spent the second half of the summer holidays at Hogwarts with him.

"Well, you're the owner, and you can always kick her out," Dudley stated, grinning.

"And a new subject is always good," Hermione added, causing Harry to inwardly roll his eyes.

HP

However, the friends should soon realise that as appealing the idea of a new subject might be, Umbridge's class was not what they had expected.

During their first class, the teacher called several students to read to the others from a book about magical education, written by herself. She also informed the class that they would not need their wand in their class, and that her long-term aim was to abolish wands completely from the school.

"How are we supposed to defend ourselves then?" Draco enquired.

"You don't need to defend yourselves," Umbridge informed him, sweetly.

"What if we're attacked?" Hermione asked in disbelief.

"By whom are you afraid to be attacked?" Umbridge queried, chuckling innocently.

"Perhaps by Voldemort, now that he's back," Harry spoke up, feeling thoroughly annoyed by the witch in the pink cardigan. _'If she continues like this, she'll be out of here by the end of the week,'_ he thought in exasperation.

"Voldemort is dead," she replied, sweetly.

"He's not. He was resurrected in June, and I saw it with my own eyes," Harry insisted, provoking another sweet smile from the annoying witch.

"Detention with me tonight, Mr. Potter," she told him. "I believe that we need to properly find out about the matter."

"There's nothing to find out," Harry growled. "I was there. Madam Bones has watched my memory. She knows that he's back."

"Harry, stop it now. She doesn't want to listen," Lily whispered, just when Umbridge announced that he had just earned himself another detention.

HP

Why do you even plan to attend the detention?" Dudley asked, when the friends spent the hour between the last afternoon class and dinner in the founders' quarters.

"Why do I attend detention?" Harry asked in confusion.

"He means why don't you just fire her," Hermione clarified, causing Dudley to nod in agreement.

"Well, we should give everyone a chance," Harry said, pensively. "It can't be so bad."

However, he should realise soon that a detention with the witch in the pink cardigan was much worse than any other detention could be, when Umbridge made him use a blood quill to write _'I must not tell lies'_.

After a short while, Harry could feel the writing in his hand and realised that it hurt pretty much.

 _'_ _Oh wait you bitch. You won't get away with that,'_ he thought in anger, making a quick decision. While he slowly continued writing, Harry concentrated on the black part of the woman's aura, which was just black surrounded by green. _'I've never done it in this way, but I hope that it'll work,'_ he thought. _'It would serve her right.'_

 _'_ _I wish half of the black to become brown,'_ Harry thought, putting a fair amount of magic into the wish until he realised that he had succeeded.

Since he was not a werewolf anymore, he did not know when the full moon would be. He only knew that it was not on this evening. Uncertain what the witch would do to him if he just fired her, he transformed into his phoenix form and flashed right into the headmaster's office, where he joined Fawkes on his perch.

#Please ask the boss if I may disturb him for a moment,# Harry instructed Fawkes, who translated right away.

"Of course Harry," Dumbledore said, gently, and offered him a lemon drop, as soon as Harry had transformed back into his human form.

"Headmaster, I just came from detention with Umbridge, and she used a blood quill on me," Harry informed the old wizard, who – after a glance at Harry's hand – leaned into the fireplace to summon Aurors.

While the Aurors, Dora and Shacklebolt, went to fetch Umbridge, Harry quickly cast a spell at the wall that showed him that the next full moon would be in a fortnight. _'Oh well, I hope that'll be enough to put her into Azkaban,'_ he thought and listened, contentedly, when the Aurors questioned Umbridge under Veritaserum.

"The use of a blood quill warrants for a one-way ticket to Azkaban," Shacklebolt informed the witch, who protested vehemently.

"You can't do this," she complained. "I'm the under secretary to the Minister of Magic."

"That job is forfeited as we speak," Shacklebolt replied, coldly, and confiscated her wand, before adding a Portkey to her right hand. "This will take you to a Ministry cell, where you will remain until your trial," he added, as he activated the Portkey.

"Harry, Madam Bones will contact you about the trial, as you're going to be called as a witness," Dora informed the boy before stepping into the fireplace behind Shacklebolt.

"At the trial, I need to tell them that she's a werewolf, before she kills anyone," Harry spoke up, more to himself than to the headmaster, who shook his head in disbelief.

HP

The trial took place a couple of days later and was an easy affair. Umbridge was once again questioned under Veritaserum, and her statements were self-explanatory, so that Harry only had to confirm that it was true that she had used a blood quill on him.

"In case you send her to Azkaban, please consider that she's a werewolf," Harry added a warning to his response, causing several members of the Wizengamot to gasp.

"Miss Umbridge, is it true that you have lycanthropy?" Amelia Bones questioned Umbridge, who was still under the influence of the Veritaserum.

"No," Umbridge replied, automatically. "That boy is a liar."

 _'_ _Oh well, wait and see,'_ Harry thought, feeling concern and amusement at the same time. To his relief, the trial ended with a life time sentence for Azkaban, and under huge protests from the toad-like witch, the Aurors led her out of the room.

 _'_ _Maybe I should try to speak with Madam Bones about the werewolf thing,'_ Harry thought, just when Amelia Bones came over and pulled him aside.

"Harry, what was that about Umbridge being a werewolf?" the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement enquired in a small voice.

"She is a werewolf," Harry emphasized. "I'm sure. Maybe you should at least warn the guards at Azkaban to be careful during the full moon and equip them with an emergency Portkey, so that they'll be able to get away if necessary."

He felt slightly uncomfortable under the older witch's stern look, however, relaxed, when she thanked him profusely for the warning and cast him a small smile.

HP

It was two weeks later that Amelia was sitting in her office beyond working time in order to keep contact to the Aurors guarding Azkaban. The moon was supposed to rise at 8: 59 p.m., and she had instructed the Aurors to inform her after making sure that everything was as normal as expected. If there was any indication that one of the prisoners would transform into a werewolf, all guards were instructed to use their Portkeys.

'We can only hope that the walls and the wards around Umbridge's cell are strong enough to resist a werewolf,' Amelia thought in concern, when she felt the magic of two incoming Portkeys right into the Auror's office.

"You had to flee?" she greeted the Aurors, whom she deemed very trustworthy.

"Miss Umbridge is indeed a werewolf," Auror Barnes informed her.

"Very well," Amelia said, sighing. "There's nothing that we can do right now, so I suggest that you both return home for the night. The moon is supposed to go down at 5:07 a.m. tomorrow morning, therefore, I'd like you to return to Azkaban and check if everything is all right at 5:15," she instructed the Aurors.

"Yes Boss."

"Understood."

With that, the Aurors left, and Amelia headed home as well. However, sleep did not come easily that night, as the thought of a werewolf running amok in the wizarding prison kept her awake. It was almost early morning, when a sudden thought crossed her mind. _'Umbridge invented so many regulations that were never approved by the Wizengamot. Wasn't there one against werewolves recently?'_

Giving up on the hope of sleep, Amelia got dressed and headed back to the office, where she entered Umbridge's office, which was surprisingly still intact, almost as if the Minister was hoping that his most trusted employee would still return to him. After a few minutes of search, she found what she was looking for. Filed in a large folder were the regulations, which Umbridge had invented and tried to get through the Wizengamot at irregular intervals. Some of them had been approved, others not. She engrossed herself into her lecture, before a huge smile spread over her face.

 _'_ _Invention 523 by Dolores Umbrige. It has even been approved by Fudge even without the consent of the Wizengamot,'_ she realised, grinning broadly, as she sent a Patronus to Auror Barnes, glad that she would reach him before he was about to return to Azkaban.

HP

Harry stared at the newest edition of the Daily Prophet with satisfaction.

 _'_ _Fudge's former Under Secretary a Werewolf – Umbridge kills a dozen Death Eaters in Azkaban'_ the main headline screamed in red letters.

Below was an article about how Umbridge seemed to have rampaged in the wizarding prison along with the names of people who had been deadly injured in the process.

 _'_ _Thank Merlin they were all really bad people,'_ Harry thought after reading the names that contained, for example, Bellatrix Lestrange and her husband, Barty Crouch Jr. or Nero Nott, the man, who had put Draco under the Imperius curse to have him give Harry the Portkey to the cemetery two weeks ago.

The next article dealt with a werewolf decree. Harry's eyes widened as he read on.

 _'Fitting for this case, Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement decided to put the following werewolf decree into action. 'Decree 523 by Dolores Umbridge. If a werewolf has harmed any pureblood witch or wizard, he must be punished by the Veil.' Accordingly, Miss Umbridge has been put through the Veil yesterday afternoon at 3.25 p.m. We at the Daily Prophet can only recommend all werewolves to turn to Head Healer O'Brien from St. Mungo's for help, as he is enlisting the support of Harry Potter to heal werewolves from lycanthropy.'_

"A fitting end to her," Dudley spoke up.

"True, although I'm incredibly grateful to her for ending Bellatrix' life," Neville added. "She and her husband were the ones who put my parents into St. Mungo's."

"Well, thank Merlin we got them out of there years ago," Harry replied, smiling as he thought of the baby, who was supposed to be born in a few weeks' time and was going to be his godchild.

HP

The following months passed quietly and uneventfully – apart from the Quidditch matches, of which Gryffindor won every match in which the house was involved. No one, not even Hermione missed the 'new subject'. Everyone was just glad that Umbridge was gone for good.

It was in the evening of the first day of classes after the Christmas holidays that Su seemed uncharacteristically excited. "My grandfather told me something very interesting," she spoke up. "By chance, I told him about the black book, which Ginny had three years ago. He said that it was a Horcrux."

"A Horcrux?" Hermione asked in surprise. "I've never heard that word."

"It's very dark magic," Su explained. "Apparently, Voldemort split his soul into several parts, which is why he managed to come back. He also can't be killed before all of the Horcruxes are gone. Anyway, he told me a spell to summon them and another to destroy them. He said that it's very dangerous though, and that we should enlist the help of trustworthy adults."

"All right then, let's call Severus, Sirius, Remus, Neville's father and Nicholas Flamel then," Harry suggested, and his friends unanimously agreed.

"My mother could help too," Neville spoke up, causing Harry to refuse vehemently.

"No Neville, it could be dangerous and possibly harm the baby," he replied. "We better keep your mum out of this."

Everyone agreed, and just twenty-four hours later, Su informed the adults about her grandfather's advice.

"This is extremely valuable information," Severus was the first to recover enough from the shock of hearing such news. "Will you please show me the spell?"

"Maybe three of us should cast the spell to summon them together, while the others can destroy the items," Frank Longbottom suggested, after Su had shown them a small parchment with two incantations written on it.

"We can ask Amaterasu to destroy them like she did with the black book," Harry spoke up, "and maybe we should summon them into the room, where we spent the nights of the full moon, considering that the items could be dangerous."

"That's a good idea," Nicholas agreed. "However, I believe that it would be preferable to just summon them to the Chamber of Secrets, so that no one would have to transport them and Amaterasu could destroy them right away."

"Oh right, that's much better," Harry agreed immediately.

After a short discussion, the adults decided that Nicholas, Severus and Sirius should summon the Horcruxes to the Chamber of Secrets.

"Shall we do it on Saturday morning?" Nicholas suggested. "Depending where the Horcruxes are, it might take a few hours for them to arrive."

The adults concurred, and Harry was asked to explain the matter to Amaterasu beforehand, while Dobby would pop the three wizards into the Chamber of Secrets and back on Saturday.

"I can as well help with the Horcruxes," Harry muttered, however, quietened after a collective glare from Remus and Severus.

HP

On Saturday morning, Harry and his friends decided to remain in the founders' living room, so that Nicholas, Severus and Sirius immediately knew where to find them after summoning and destroying the Horcruxes.

"Let's practise for the Latin test next week," Hermione suggested, and the friends agreed, even if grudgingly, as none of them was very fond of studying Latin, even if they knew that it would be very useful to know the language.

"After the OWLs I'm going to skip Latin along with several other classes and become Severus' apprentice," Harry informed his friends about a decision which he had made years ago.

"I wished I knew what to do after finishing Hogwarts," Lily suddenly spoke up. "It's only two and a half more years until the NEWTs, and I really don't have a clue."

"Yes, same here," Su added, seemingly unhappy about the idea.

Harry chuckled and informed the girls about another plan, which he had made a long time ago. "I'd be happy if one or two of you would be interested in working together with me. Anyway," he let his eyes wander over his friends, "I'm going to keep each of you at Hogwarts in some position, provided that you want it."

"Harry, you're the best," Lily blurted out, pulling her boyfriend into a light hug.

"Well, not in Latin in any case," Harry replied, smirking. "Let's get on with this."

For a little while, the eight friends continued to study, until Harry all of a sudden let out a bloodcurdling scream. At the same time, his scar seemed to explode with a bright flash that blinded everyone for a moment. When they were able to see again, Harry was lying on the floor, unconscious.


	18. Chapter 18

**Soul Phoenix**  
 **by Healer Teddylonglong**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. Rating M for multiple character deaths throughout this story.**

 _It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.  
_ _Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind feedback on the previous chapter!_

* * *

While Harry's friends fawned over the unconscious boy in shock, trying to find out if he was dead or merely unconscious, Nicholas, Severus and Sirius were waiting for the Horcruxes to arrive in excitement.

All of a sudden, just about three minutes after they had cast the spell, two items arrived. One of them Severus immediately recognised as Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem, which was said to have been lost for a long time. The other, however, was something that looked like a human baby. It did not seem to be alive. Nevertheless, the three wizards exchanged a worried look.

"Don't touch it," Severus warned Sirius, who instinctively reached out for the small being. "Let Amaterasu get rid of both Horcruxes."

He turned to the huge basilisk, who looked at him as if to reassure him that she knew what she had to do before burying her fangs into the baby-like being. The small creature let out a bloodcurdling scream, which made the men stare at it in concern, before it suddenly stopped making any noise whatsoever, and Amaterasu turned to the diadem. The reaction of the Horcrux within the object was similar, and everyone sighed in relief when the unnerving noise stopped.

Amaterasu slowly robbed backwards, wearing what seemed to be a contented expression, even if the men were not sure, as they barely knew the basilisk except from the stories told by Harry, who went to visit her at least once a week.

Within the next three hours, two more objects as well as another baby arrived. "Probably the Horcrux from within Nagini, the Dark Lord's snake," Severus mused aloud, while it was clear to him that the objects were the cup that had once belonged to Helga Hufflepuff and the somehow famous Gaunt ring.

"We should take all three objects to Harry, as they belong to him as the heir of the founders and also of the Gaunt family," he suggested, once Amaterasu had destroyed all Horcruxes.

"Are you sure that we're finished here though?" Sirius enquired.

"Yes," Severus confirmed. "Together with the black book that Harry and Amaterasu have destroyed three years ago, that was six Horcruxes now, which means that the Dark Lord must have split his soul into seven pieces. It's very unlikely that he divided his soul even more, as he'd become even more vulnerable."

"Well, in the worst case, if another Horcrux arrived, Amaterasu would know to destroy it, wouldn't you?" Nicholas spoke up, turning to Amaterasu, who moved her large head up and down confirming his theory.

HP

Harry was still unconscious, however, Poppy had agreed to leave him in his own bed, considering that she could easily come through the fireplace to check on him every now and then.

"That explains why there were two baby-like creatures," Severus said, more to himself than to his audience.

"What exactly happened?" Hermione was the first to ask, causing the professor to give Harry's friends, who were spread over Harry's room in the founders' quarters, an overview over the Horcruxes.

"So that means that the Dark Lord can be killed now," Severus added to his explanation.

"Very well, then we should plan his demise," Lily spoke up, sounding very eager.

"Plan?" Neville enquired.

"How are you going to plan such a thing?" Hermione agreed.

"Exactly," Dudley added. "Harry said that Voldemort has not openly shown himself ever since his resurrection.

Severus inwardly grinned at the fifth-years' eagerness. However, he remained for the discussion in case he might be able to provide some kind of advice.

"Let's meet here with my father and Madam Bones," Lily said, pensively. "Will you promise to keep to yourself what I tell you now? Sorry, can you swear an oath that you will?"

Everyone including Severus made their oaths on their magic to not reveal Lily's secret, and the girl informed them that her father was an Unspeakable. "His pseudonym is Hermes."

"Perhaps your father and Madam Bones can make a plan how to lure the Dark Lord into the Ministry of Magic to get the prophecy," Severus suggested. "Please inform me of any such plan in advance though."

"We will," Lily promised. "Thank you for everything, sir."

"We should wait for Harry to wake up before contacting your father and Madam Bones in any case," Hermione spoke up.

"We must do that, as Harry is the one who has to kill Voldemort," Dudley agreed.

However, Luna contradicted. "No, you're all going to kill him together," she said, giving Harry a dreamy look.

HP

Harry was floating over a huge field of flowers. Suddenly, he realised that he was not alone. He heard many voices, and a woman was floating on his left side, while a man, who looked exactly like himself, was on his right side.

"Mum? Dad?" he asked in confusion.

"Yes Harry, it's us," Lily replied.

"As much as we enjoy having you here, you shouldn't be here though," James added.

"Am I dead?" Harry enquired.

"Not yet," Lily confirmed. "You're in limbo, and you need to wake up. Your friends are waiting for you to join them and to kill Voldemort. It's up to you to rid the magical world from him."

"What do I have to do?" Harry asked, timidly, before he inwardly groaned, thinking that he behaved like a small child asking such a thing.

"Harry, don't worry," James replied nonetheless. "Your friends are already planning everything. You need to wake up."

 _'_ _I want to wake up,'_ Harry thought, pushing as much magic as he could into the wish.

HP

"Hello Harry," Luna greeted him, apparently the first to notice that he was waking up.

"Hi," Harry greeted his friends, who were spread over his bed, the chairs and the floor. "What happened?"

"Apparently, there was a Horcrux behind your scar…"

"… and it was pulled out when the professors cast the spell," his friends informed him.

HP

Later the same day, Lily wrote to her father, who promised that he and Amelia would visit the friends in the founders' quarters at ten o'clock on Saturday morning.

After two hours of discussion with the Unspeakable and the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, they agreed to lure Voldemort into the Ministry to get the prophecy and that the best way to convince the evil wizard was to have Draco send him a letter.

"Me?" Draco asked, horrified.

"That makes sense," Dudley spoke up. "Harry, do you remember the other prophecy which Sybill made about the six of us? Draco and Luna weren't in it, so it makes sense if they don't go to the Ministry with us."

"But I don't want anything to do with the Dark Lord," Draco replied, seemingly horrified.

"Don't worry, you won't," Luna reassured him, gently reaching for his hand. "Let's go and write the letter. When should Voldemort be at the Ministry?"

"At five p.m. next Saturday," Hermes informed the students. "I'll come here on Friday evening to teach you some spells."

"Oh errr…. " Harry just remembered to inform his friends that Voldemort was a Squib.

"Harry, are you sure?" Hermes asked, giving him a stern look.

"Yes, I changed his aura, while he was resurrected," Harry confirmed.

"He probably won't come alone but will be accompanied by a couple of Death Eaters, who are very well able to cast spells and also the killing curse," Amelia spoke up. "This is going to be a very dangerous exploit, even if I will of course alert the Aurors and have them nearby."

"There's something that we need to do before getting rid of Voldemort," Harry suddenly said, causing everyone to stare at him in surprise.

HP

"When Voldemort dies," Harry explained, "the Dark Mark will most likely vanish from his followers' arms. In order to catch all the Death Eaters, we should cast a spell that summons all the Death Eaters to Azkaban." Seeing that everyone stared at him in disbelief, he continued, "I'm sure that the Unspeakables will be able to change the summoning spell for the Horcruxes accordingly."

"What a brilliant idea," Su blurted out.

"Hermes can you do that?" Neville turned to the Unspeakable.

"Probably yes," Hermes confirmed, nodding contentedly, when Su handed him a small parchment with the incantation that Nicholas, Severus and Sirius had used to summon the Horcruxes. "The spell must be cast at Azkaban then," he said, more to himself than to the students. "I'll keep you informed, but we should be able to cast it before Saturday."

As soon as Hermes and Amelia Bones left, Harry rose from his chair. "I need to go and take Severus' Dark Mark off his arm," he announced, before he popped away.

HP

As Severus' unofficial apprentice, Harry was used to popping right into Severus' private lab, and that was where he arrived this time, too.

"Harry," the older wizard said in surprise, putting the potion to which he was just tending under a stasis spell. "I didn't expect you this morning. How did your conversation with Madam Bones and the Unspeakable go?"

"It went well," Harry replied and told his mentor about the earlier meeting. "There's just one problem," he said and filled him in about the plan of calling all Death Eaters to Azkaban. "So I need to try taking off your Dark Mark."

"How?" Severus queried, his eyes widening as realisation set in.

Harry let out a sigh, before he admitted, "I'm not sure. There are two possible methods. One would be to try changing your aura to completely white, while the other would be trying to speak with the Dark Mark. You told me there was a snake inside, didn't you?"

"Yes, it's a snake, and it uses to move when he calls," Severus replied, thoughtfully.

"All right, but still, let me try the aura first," Harry suggested and, seeing the older wizard nod his agreement, concentrated on the man's aura. _'I need to change the grey part to white,'_ he thought, sending his wish magic into the idea, while Severus rolled up his left sleeve and stared at the Dark Mark.

"It's gone!" he suddenly hissed in excitement, causing Harry to realise that he could stop as the aura had already changed according to his wishes.

"Show me," he said and reached for Severus' left arm, which was completely blank and void of the Dark Mark. "Thank Merlin, it's really gone," he confirmed, sighing in relief.

"Harry, thank you very much," Severus replied, gratefully. "It means a lot to me knowing that I probably won't be summoned to Azkaban next week."

Harry could not help smiling. "Thank Merlin," he echoed. "Aunt Petunia would kill me if I allowed you to be put into Azkaban.

"Harry," Severus suddenly continued in a sterner voice, "Please promise me that you'll be very careful on Saturday."

"I promise," Harry replied, shrugging. "With Voldemort a Squib and his Death Eaters in Azkaban, it shouldn't be too difficult, and I have five of my friends and a squad of Aurors with me."

"I will join you as well," the older wizard promised.

"Definitely not," Harry contradicted. "As I said, if anything happened to you, Aunt Petunia would kill me, especially now that you're expecting a baby."

A small smile played on Severus' lips, as Harry brought up the topic of his son who was going to be born in three months' time – hopefully to a peaceful world.

"So there's no more spying for me," he said, more to himself than to Harry. "I must go and inform the headmaster."

"Please tell him that there was a valid reason for what I did, sir," Harry instructed the older wizard, who nodded in agreement.

HP

On Tuesday evening, when Severus and Remus were teaching Harry and his friends spells that might become useful in their fight with Voldemort and his non-marked minions, Hermes popped up right next to them.

"I'm sorry for intruding," he apologized, looking around in surprise. "What is this room?" he enquired.

"The Duelling room of the founders' quarters," Harry informed him, looking at the Unspeakable in expectation.

"Very well, this is brilliant for your Practice," Hermes acknowledged, before he explained, "I merely wanted to inform you that all Death Eaters have arrived at Azkaban, and their wands have been taken."

"That's good news," Harry said, warmly. "Thank you so much, sir. I just hope that Voldemort won't get suspicious but will show up on Saturday."

The Unspeakable smirked. "According to our spy, he has received Mr. Malfoy's letter and is planning to travel to the Ministry to attack Harry Potter once he has retrieved the orb with the prophecy," he then explained, causing Harry's eyes to widen.

 _'_ _I didn't know that the Unspeakables have a spy with Voldemort,'_ he thought, incredulously. _'Oh well, they must have some method, as the spy won't have the Dark Mark in any case.'_ He suddenly felt very relieved, as he had already berated himself for taking Severus' Dark Mark off before allowing him to participate in the Death Eater meeting where Voldemort would inform his followers about Draco's letter.

HP

The eight friends took turns practising with Severus and Remus or Hermes and Croaker, another Unspeakable, every evening. Even if Draco and Luna would not accompany them to fight Voldemort but stay behind with the contingent of Aurors, as Draco did not want to be discovered by Voldemort, the two friends decided to practise together with the others.

On Friday evening, Harry was just about to leave the Great Hall on his way to the founders' quarters to practise with the Unspeakables one last time, when Sirius and Remus kept him back.

"Harry, you know that we're representing your four seats on the Wizengamot," Remus began to speak, when Sirius interrupted him.

"Harry, who do you think would make the better Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones, Arthur Weasley or Albus Dumbledore?"

"Amelia Bones, but why?" Harry enquired.

"They found out that Fudge was a Death Eater. He wound up in Azkaban together with the other Death Eaters," Sirius explained, grinning, causing Harry to gasp.

"All right, Harry. We'll vote for her then," Remus promised, and the two older wizards returned to the head table.

 _'_ _I hope she'll win,'_ Harry thought, as he made his way to the founders' quarters. _'She has always helped us with everything, and she'd make a wonderful alley for whatever problem might arise. If Dumbledore won, we'd need a new headmaster. Oh well.'_ He was still very pensive, when he arrived in the Duelling room in the founders' quarters, where everyone else had already begun to practise.

HP

Saturday morning saw the friends in the Great Hall very early in the morning. Even if they had intended to rest as much as possible on that day in order to be fit in the evening, they could not wait for the Daily Prophet to arrive. Harry could have just gone to see Sirius or Remus, but he did not want to disturb them on a Saturday.

Dumbledore was present at the head table, so that did not look as if he had been elected as the new Minister.

"I hope it's Madam Bones," Harry said, while they waited for the owls to arrive.

However, it was Dumbledore who finally informed the early-birds. "Last night, Amelia Bones has been elected the new Minister of Magic," the old wizard spoke up, causing huge applause to arise from the two dozen students who were already present.

"It was your four votes that made the difference between him and Amelia," Sirius whispered to Harry, when he strode by the Gryffindor table twenty minutes later.

HP

To the excited fifth-years, the day seemed to stretch infinitely long, however, finally it became four o'clock in the afternoon, and Dobby, Gina and Animogli took the eight students to the Ministry of Magic, where they met with the new Minister and the Unspeakables to discuss details and have a sight at the rooms, where they were likely to have their encounter with Voldemort an hour later.

It was exactly five o'clock when Voldemort arrived in the Atrium with a handful of followers. Quickly pushing the girls behind themselves, Harry, Dudley and Neville began casting one stunning spell after the other at the Death Eaters, and Lily, Su and Hermione quickly fell in, before the newcomers even realised what was happening.

 _'_ _They must be junior Death Eaters and not very experienced,'_ Harry thought, knowing that they at least until a few days ago did not have the Dark Mark.

"Harry Potter, here we meet again," Voldemort spoke up, causing Harry to grin.

"Hi Tom," he said. "I'm sorry, but I don't have much time for small talk with you, as I have a date with my girlfriend. I've heard that you've recently become a Squib, and I'm really sorry for causing that. Good bye Tom." With that, the whole group began to simultaneously attack the evil wizard with different spells. While Su resolved to a cutting spell, Hermione cast a stunning spell, Lily a bone crushing spell, Neville one that made his blood freeze, Dudley a tickling spell and Harry an explosion spell.

"Run out of the way!" Harry shouted, and everyone quickly jumped backwards to not be hit by the bits and pieces of Voldemort that were scattering all over the Atrium.

"Good riddance," Dudley was the first to find words.

"That seemed too easy to be true," Hermes spoke up as he made himself visible at the other side of the Atrium. "Well done you six. Very well done indeed."

"Is he dead?" Amelia enquired, hesitantly looking into the Atrium.

Harry pointed to the bits and pieces of what could still be recognised as a human. "I'd say he's dead," he said, smirking.

Amelia greatly commended the children, before she gave them a close look and asked, "Are you all unharmed?"

"Completely," Lily assured her. "The Death Eaters seemed all to be newbies and weren't even prepared to fight, and Voldemort…"

"… Harry made him a Squib, when he was resurrected. He couldn't fight back, especially not when we attacked him all at the same time," Dudley added.

While the Aurors began to take the Death Eaters into custody and gather Voldemort's parts together, Amelia invited the children into her office for refreshments.

"I have one problem," she admitted, once everyone was seated in front of huge helpings of hot chocolate and biscuits, causing the children to look at her in surprise.

"I'd like to award you the Order of Merlin, but I can't award the Order of Merlin first class to six persons at the same time. The Wizengamot would verbally kill me," Amelia admitted, "especially on my first day as Minister."

"Minister, we don't need anything," Harry replied without even pondering the matter. "We're just glad that he's gone."

"I think Harry is the only one who deserves the Oder of Merlin," Lily spoke up. "If he hadn't turned Voldemort into a Squib and he'd have been able to fight, we wouldn't have succeeded in killing him."

"Ah no, I don't need anything that you don't get either," Harry contradicted.

"I agree with Lily," Dudley said, glancing at Hermione.

"Yes, Lily is right. Only because Harry did what he did to him were we able to finish him off," Hermione said in a firm voice.

"Very well, thank you dears," Amelia replied, smiling. "I'll think about the matter and will contact you soon."

With that the conversation turned to other topics, while the children enjoyed their much deserved hot chocolate.

HP

It was at dinner on Sunday that the headmaster announced a special guest: The new Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones.

While Susan excitedly ran to the high table to greet her aunt and congratulate her, Harry and his friends, who were once again sitting at the Gryffindor table together, exchanged a surprised look. The news about Voldemort's death had not been made public yet, neither by Dumbledore, who possibly was still unaware of the matter, nor by the Daily Prophet.

When everyone quietened, Amelia stood in front of the high table and addressed the students. "Good evening everyone. Today, I have come to bring you very happy news. Yesterday, which was by chance my first day as the Minister of Magic, six students from Hogwarts have done the British magical world a huge favour. They have vanquished Voldemort…"

Huge applause hindered her from continuing, and Dumbledore used the commotion to enquire in apparent disbelief, "Amelia, are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm certain," the Minister replied, smiling. "Our Aurors had to scrap the bits and pieces of him from the floor of the Atrium."

Her explanation was met with laughter and apparent relief. However, the Minister was not finished yet. "I'd like to award the Order of Merlin third class to five students," she said and called, "Hermione Granger, Lily Moon, Su Li, Dudley Dursley and Neville Longbottom, please come here."

Harry was already preparing himself to raise from his chair, when he noticed that Amelia had not called his name. Casting Lily a questioning look, he remained at the Gryffindor table and observed how the Minister handed each of his friends a medal.

Finally, Amelia called him as well and explained, "Since Harry Potter made Voldemort a Squib, which was the important measure that made his demise possible, I award him the Order of Merlin first class." Turning to the six friends, she asked, "Do you all have accounts at Gringotts? The Order of Merlin is equipped with a certain amount of money."

"I don't," Dudley and Hermione replied, simultaneously.

"And I wish to open a new account for this money, as I don't want it," Harry added. "I'll use it for much needed building projects for Hogwarts."

"I'll take the three of you to Gringotts tomorrow after the last afternoon class," Remus spoke up, causing the children to smile and nod their agreement.

"Harry, what projects are you thinking of?" Neville enquired, when the friends had retired to the founders' living room after dinner.

Harry let out a long sigh. "In fact, I have several plans for the future," he said and began to explain, "First of all, I wish to re-build the Shrieking Shack and change it to a magical hospital, maybe with one floor for Hogwarts students and the rest for external patients. My plan is to study Healing and work at the hospital as Mind Healer, if possible together with any of you who are interested to be healers as well."

"I'd like that," Su and Lily spoke up, simultaneously.

"Then I wish to build a home for retired teachers on the Hogwarts grounds next to the Shrieking Shack and a Primary School beside the other buildings," Harry continued, causing his friends to listen in amazement.

"Since when have you been harbouring all these plans without telling us a word?" Hermione enquired, incredulously.

"Oh for some years already," Harry replied, smirking. "I've already received a confirmation from Head Healer O'Brien of St. Mungo's that I and two of my friends will be accepted into the healer course right after our NEWTs. Lily and Su, please consider if you really want this, and if so, I'll give healer O'Brien your names."

"I'm sure," Lily said, immediately.

"Yes, me too, especially knowing that the three of us will be able to work together," Su added, smiling.

"Very well, everyone else please think about what you'd like to do after your NEWTs, and I'll try to make openings for you here at Hogwarts," Harry continued to speak, glancing around his friends. "For example, we need someone to replace Dumbledore, we need a headmaster or headmistress for the Hogwarts Primary School…"

"I wish to become Professor Sprout's apprentice, so that I can become her successor after taking my mastery," Neville spoke up, smiling.

"That's a wonderful idea," Harry said, warmly. "Dudley, would you like to become the headmaster?"

"No." Dudley's response came fast and firm. "You must be the headmaster. I'd rather wish to become the Ancient Runes professor. Professor Babbling told me that she'd like to retire eventually."

"Then that's fixed as well," Harry replied, smiling. "Hermione, Draco, Luna? You don't have to decide now of course, just please think about it."

"Do you need a Potions Master for your hospital?" Draco enquired.

"At first not, as by then I'll have taken my Potions Mastery, but eventually I won't have time to brew everything by myself," Harry replied, pensively. "Well, the job is reserved for you, Draco."

"I'd love to become a teacher at the Primary School," Luna spoke up, dreamily.

"I'd like to teach something, but headmistress of the Primary School sounds good, too," Hermione added, smiling.

"Very well," Harry said, somehow feeling very happy at the prospect of being able to keep all of his friends at Hogwarts. "First of all, I need to see to the renovation of the Shrieking Shack and the building of the two new houses then. When we go to Gringotts tomorrow, I'll ask Buckbean for a good architect."

HP

Since the eight friends already knew for sure what they wanted to do after graduating, they already concentrated on their areas of expertise from their sixth school year onwards, only taking the main subjects required for their NEWTs.

Harry established the new subject of Healing with Poppy as the professor, however, only for three students during the first two years. Harry, Su and Lily were the only students in Poppy's intensive Healing class, which spared them two years of study at St. Mungo's, so that they were able to pass their Healer's exams just a year after their NEWTs. At the same time, Harry also took his Potions Master's exam together with Draco, who had also spent the last three years as Severus' apprentice.

By the time the new healers were ready to open the Hogwarts Magical Hospital, the architects had finished building the hospital building as well as the Primary school building and the home for retired teachers.

Albus Dumbledore, Pomona Sprout and Bathsheda Babbling were the first residents of the home for retired teachers, while Poppy waited a year before retiring in order to help her students establish the hospital.

Harry took over the position as headmaster of Hogwarts, only because of knowing that it would make sense for him as the owner to lead the school. To his relief, Professor McGonagall promised to remain his deputy headmistress for a few years before retiring, and Dudley already signalled that he would then take over from the Scottish lioness.

Harry also accepted the position of the Healing professor and occasionally worked as mind healer in the hospital, whenever his expertise was required. He was soon known as the only mind healer within Britain's magical world, and his fame helped the hospital get famous very quickly. The upper floor of the hospital was reserved for students, who could simply step through a connecting door from the former door to the now abandoned hospital wing right to the top floor of the hospital. The ground floor was used for external patients, mostly – but not solely – from Hogsmeade, who came with minor injuries and illnesses. Everyone who had to stay for more than just one night was diverted to St. Mungo's.

The Hogwarts Primary School was a huge success from its establishment onwards. Each of the classes, which were mostly being taught by graduates from Hogwarts, held ten students right from the beginning, and the numbers skyrocketed after the first year, when the school's fame spread over the magical world.

HP

One day, Harry received a letter by owl from one Esmelda Brighton, in which she asked him to once visit her at the muggle hospital, where she was working.

"I've never heard of her, but I'll go and see what she wants," Harry told his friends, before he transformed into his phoenix form and flashed to where his phoenix instincts sensed the unknown person.

"Thank you so much for coming, Mr. Potter," an elder lady greeted him. "You must know that I'm a Squib, and I'm working as a muggle healer in this hospital. We have a patient here, who claims to be a wizard, and I partly believe him, although I think that he might be a Squib as well. Oh well, would you please once take a look at him? I've read the article in the Daily Prophet about you being a magical mind healer, and I thought you might be able to understand his problem and help."

"Of course," Harry replied, curiously following the Squib through the muggle hospital. He had to restrict himself to not let out a gasp at the sight of none other than Lucius Malfoy.

Knowing that due to Dobby's obliviating activities, Malfoy probably would not know who he was, Harry merely greeted the man and studied his aura, quickly changing the black part to white.

"I will be able to help him, but for that I need to take him with me," Harry informed the healer, who immediately agreed and promised to see to the paper work.

"Mr. Malfoy," Harry now addressed the man by his name, "I'm going to take you with me to the Hogwarts Magical Hospital." With that he made Lucius touch his ring that was his Portkey to the hospital, and an instant later, they found themselves in the entrance hall.

Harry led the man into one of the single rooms and made him sit down, before he called Dobby.

"Dobby, is it possible for you to cancel the obliviation spell that you cast a few years ago?" he asked, carefully.

"Yes Dobby can do that," the elf replied, eagerly jumping from one foot to the other.

"Wait a moment," Harry told him and addressed the man in front of him. "Dobby obliviated you a few years ago, as you did many really evil things. By now, the Dark Lord is dead and all Death Eaters are in prison. Apparently, you were saved from the spell that sent them all to Azkaban because you're a Squib."

"I'm a wizard," Lucius replied, growling.

"Currently, you're a Squib, but I will try to restore your magic, provided that you swear on your magic and your life to not do evil things again," Harry said in a stern voice.

Only when Lucius agreed and swore his oath, Harry nodded at Dobby, before he concentrated on the pink part in the aura and changed it to a light green. _'Magical, but not as powerful as before,'_ he thought, contentedly.

While Lucius was engrossed in his memories, Harry called Narcissa, who promised to take Lucius with her to her own quarters at Hogwarts and keep an eye on him.

HP

"Life is good," Harry mused aloud, when the friends held a quadruple wedding ceremony on his twentieth birthday. He and Lily had been the first who had decided to marry, closely followed by Hermione and Dudley, Su and Neville and Luna and Draco.

"I'm looking forward to have a whole Quidditch team of babies entertaining our school in two years' time," Dumbledore spoke up, smiling at the happy couples.

"Yes, I think we should add a large nursery to the ground floor of the retired teachers' home. That way we don't have to hire anyone else to look after the babies," Harry replied in amusement.

Before Dumbledore was able to respond to the threat, he called Animogli, who was going to flash the four ladies to their honeymoon destination, while he took the other three grooms in his soul phoenix form.

Just a year later, the first four babies were born, two girls and two boys, and the first thing that Harry checked was the babies' aura.

"Thank Merlin, all of them have a white aura with a strong, green frame," he told his friends, when they were gathered in the living room of what had become their own, large quarters by now.

"That's good to know," Hermione replied, smiling.

"Is that the most important thing though?" Draco asked, rolling his eyes in apparent annoyance.

"Oh Merlin, how could I marry a soul phoenix?" Lily spoke up, feigning a groan, as she tried to make her son James burp.

 **The End**

 _Thank you so much for your kind comments throughout this story!_


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